After a year of booming demand and spiraling operational and supply chain costs, consumers have been pulling back on discretionary spending as they hedge against inflation on essential goods. The retail and apparel markets have gone through several shifts since then. It was also able to retire debt while increasing availability under its asset-based facility. Rue21’s chief financial officer said at the time that the retailer was beating its own expectations and increasing its comparable sales year over year.

In late 2020, the retailer said it planned to open 15 new stores - after a year when the market saw a high-water mark in retail bankruptcies and store closures with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and its early, turbulent months. It emerged that same year, after closing more than 400 stores and turning ownership over to its lenders.

Rue21 was part of a large cohort of mall-based retailers to go bankrupt in 2017. Rue21 was a fast-growing teen retailer in the early 2000s, with a hot brand that could compete against other strong players in the space like H&M and Forever 21.Īfter a swift expansion, and taking on a large debt load in a private equity buyout, the retailer ran into the mall retail doldrums of the mid-2010s.

Red button shirt from rue 21