Beloved 80-year-old women’s fashion retailer to close 120 stores

It’s lights out for another popular retailer as over 100 stores are set to close.

Cato Fashions — a North Carolina-based women’s retail chain — has just announced it will shut down roughly 120 stores by the end of 2026. The 80-year-old value retailer revealed in a press release that it will axe only the underperforming locations based on leases and profitability.

The brand said in an earlier statement back in March that it would open 10 stores and shutter about 40 to 50 locations in 2026 — however, that number of closures grew to 120.

“Annually we review approximately one-third of our stores to exercise available lease options or negotiate an extension based on each store’s performance, including store sales trend and current and projected store profitability,” John Cato, chairman, president and CEO, said.

“In light of the current economic environment, especially with the negative pressure on our customers’ discretionary income, we do not expect these marginal stores to improve appreciably,” Cato added.

Since 2025, the family-owned company has closed 48 stores — starting this year with 1,069 stores in 31 states. By August 2026, dozens of locations had closed down. 

The retailer said closing the stores will cost the brand anywhere between $1 million and $1.3 million due to throwing away external signage and fixtures and returning the store systems to corporate offices, according to USA Today.

As of Oct. 2, Cato Fashions is currently operating 850 stores. States with the largest number of locations include Texas with 140, North Carolina with 81, and Georgia, which is home to 67.

The brand offers women’s clothing at affordable prices where shoppers can score items in person and online with sizes ranging from 2 to 28.

But the family-friendly chain isn’t the only spot closing down locations — T.J. Maxx has confirmed it will close down three locations. The shutters will be in Massachusetts and Maryland, but the company has not announced dates.

Earlier this year, TJX — which owns Marshalls, HomeGoods, HomeSense and Sierra — closed down two of its high-profile T.J. Maxx locations: a flagship in Boston and one at a popular mall in Maryland.

Despite shutting the lights off at a handful of locations, T.J. Maxx is actually opening more stores than it has closed — with a total of 11 new stores set to open in 2027.

Other major players going down in store count: Nordstrom, Saks and Macy’s as all have been forced to shut locations as high costs and low foot traffic remain a problem across the board.