We’re not even halfway through 2024, and Westfield Montgomery mall has already lost almost as many national retailers as it did in the first year of the pandemic. The latest departures are men’s clothing store Bonobos, which went dark this week, and Banana Republic, which will exit in mid-July. The first major closing of the year was The Children’s Place, which shut down in January. Then came Talbots, Ann Taylor and Soma, which are all owned by the same private equity firm. Banana Republic, part of the Gap empire, had been a fixture at the mall since 2011. Bonobos is a division of the troubled Express Inc., which filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in April. Westfield Montgomery’s owner, Unibail-Rodamco-Westfield, suggested that the recent pace of closings is not unusual. “Turnover of tenants is normal and expected in any shopping destination,” a URW spokesman told us this week. But for Westfield Montgomery, this is definitely not normal. The last time we saw this many national retailers leave all at once was in 2020. As for what’s on the horizon, the only big-name tenants that we know of so far are preppy-chic fashion brand Tory Burch and Swiss chocolatier Läderach. Will things get better in the second half of 2024? Stay tuned to Store Reporter for the latest.
Dave Roberts
Scary. After living in the area for decades, it’s hard to watch Montgomery Mall as it slowly dies. Westfield is making a valiant effort to keep it alive. I hope they can complete their planned improvements, that may help.
dave
Lauro Rodriguez
I smell BS with these closings. For one, LakeForest is gone, WhiteFlint been gone so Montgomery mall has no competition in the area and with all the affluent neighborhoods surrounding the mall, it should be thriving like no other. Not quite sure how Maryland lost all it shoppers to Va but Tysons 7 miles down the road is jam packed every day including the stores mentioned in the article that have closed. Greed from the equity firms and mismanagement from the mall owners is the culprit.