Dressbarn to Close All Stores

Dressbarn, the value clothing retail chain specializing in women’s career wear, is shuttering all of its 650 stores, including its Santa Clarita Valley location at 19269 Golden Valley Road. Parent company Ascena Retail Group, which also owns Ann Taylor, Lane Bryant and LOFT, announced the closures this week. There is no official timeline for the shutdown — details of the closing of individual locations will be shared on a store-by-store basis, as will job losses. Dressbarn currently employs roughly 6,800 employees. The brand’s Chief Financial Officer Steven Taylor called the decision necessary due to poor performance. “The Dressbarn chain has not been operating at an acceptable level of profitability in today’s retail environment,” he said in a statement. The rise of e-commerce platforms has led to major financial challenges for Ascena. The company has posted more than $1 billion in losses in the last four years and is currently managing about $1.6 billion in debt, according to Bloomberg. Earlier this year, Ascena unloaded a majority interest of its discount apparel chain Maurices Inc. for about $300 million to a private equity firm affiliated with OpCapita LLP.