National retailers are closing stores. Which Triangle locations will be affected?

Several national chain retailers, including some with locations in Raleigh, will close brick-and-mortar stores soon. That means going-out-of-business sales are already underway.

Financial struggles have plagued clothing brands Express and Rue21, which have both filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and are shuttering stores. New York-based Sam Ash Music, which has served customers for 100 years, also recently announced that it was going out of business and would begin offering discounts on merchandise.

But not all retailers are closing all of their store locations. And some brands that have said they would shutter stores have yet to announce which locations are shutting down.

Which stores in the Triangle are closing?

Musical equipment and accessories retailer Sam Ash is closing all locations, including its store on Capital Boulevard in Raleigh. The announcement first came in a social media post earlier in May, The News & Observer previously reported. “It is with a heavy heart that we announce that all Sam Ash Music store locations will begin store closing sales today,” the retailer said on the social media post.

An employee at the Raleigh Sam Ash store who answered the phone said the store will likely close around mid- or late-July.

Like Sam Ash, Rue21 is also closing all of its stores — 541 of them across the United States. There are 31 Rue21 stores in North Carolina, including one at Triangle Town Center in Raleigh and one in Garner. No store closure date was given by the Raleigh store employee who answered The News & Observer’s call.

Details on store-closing sales at Sam Ash, Rue21

▪ Items at Sam Ash, such as musical equipment, fixtures and accessories, are on sale; all sales are final. A Sam Ash employee at the Raleigh location said merchandise is marked down about 5%-30%, depending on the item, but more details are available on the store’s website. No returns will be accepted for any purchases made after May 1, except for damaged merchandise.

▪ Rue21 is also holding going-out-of-business sales. A store employee at the Triangle Town Center location said all merchandise is 30% off. The company’s website is “being updated,” so no additional information about the discounts is available online.

Other brands closing brick-and-mortar locations

▪ In April, Express announced it would close 95 retail stores and all locations of one of its clothing brands, UpWest. Locations at Winston-Salem’s Hanes Mall and Charlotte’s Northlake will be shuttered, but the stores at Crabtree Valley Mall in Raleigh and The Streets at Southpoint in Durham will be spared. The Express Factory Outlet at Triangle Town Center is safe, too. Store-closing sales at the affected stores began April 23.

▪ Macy’s announced in February that it would close about “150 unproductive locations, including approximately 50 by the end of the fiscal year.” However, the company has not said which stores it plans to close. Macy’s has stores at Crabtree Valley Mall and Triangle Town Center in Raleigh, and at The Streets of South Point in Durham.

▪ About 600 Family Dollar stores will close by the end of the year, and an additional 370 Family Dollar and 30 Dollar Tree stores are set to close in coming years as leases expire, Dollar Tree, Inc., which owns Family Dollar, announced in March. As of February, the company operated 16,774 stores in 48 states and five Canadian provinces.

CBS News has a running list of Family Dollar locations across the U.S. that are known to be closing. So far, the only North Carolina stores being affected are in Wilmington, NBC affiliate WECT reported in March. There are dozens of Family Dollar and Dollar Tree locations in the Triangle.

▪ Best Buy plans to close 10-15 stores in fiscal year 2025, company representatives said during an earnings call in February. This continues the electronics retailer’s practice of closing traditional stores during a “rigorous review of stores as their leases come up for renewal.” Two dozen Best Buy stores closed in fiscal year 2024. There is currently no information about possible Triangle store closures.

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