Cut-price sneakers! Popular Baltimore shoe store to offer 70% discounts as it is forced to shut down

A popular shoe retailer is shutting down all 39 of its stores this month – leaving shoppers just weeks to get their hands on discounted goods.

Baltimore chain Shoe City was forced to file for bankruptcy back in April, after 74 years in business.

But it spells good news for bargain hunters as the chain is slashing prices by up to 70 percent, according to the US Sun.

The closures come amidst a ‘retail apocalypse’ which has seen hundreds of brick-and-mortar stores shut down due to a perfect storm of high inflation, rising crime rates and a boom in online shopping.

Shoe City’s doors will close for good on May 31. In a bankruptcy filing in April, chief restructuring officer Stanley W. Mastil said: ‘Unfortunately, after 74 years in business, the Shoe City legacy has come to an end.’

Shoe City was forced to file for bankruptcy back in April, after 74 years in business. Stock image 

The Baltimore Business Journal reported that a failed takeover deal with Arkylz Group – the parent company of The Athlete’s Foot – was to blame for the closures.

The shoe giant had also incurred consecutive operating losses of $1.76 million in the 2021 financial year, up from $280,000 in 2020.

It comes after two US Nike stores also shut their doors for good last week.

Local outlet Williamson Source reported that shoppers queued ‘for hours’ to shop the sale over the weekend after staff limited the number of customers allowed in-store.

A tally by Business Insider calculates that more than 2,000 stores are set to close in 2023 alone.

In April, retail giant Bed Bath and Beyond shuttered its final 360 stores after filing for bankruptcy.

The declaration came after months of dire financial news, which culminated in the closure of 236 stores in February.

Since then, Bed Bath & Beyond had struggled to maintain its 360 brand-name storefronts and 120 Buy Buy Baby stores in the face of nearly $5.2billion in runaway debt.

The Nike Factory Store in Brentwood, Tennessee, pictured, closed down for good on Thursday 

Retail giant Bed Bath and Beyond shuttered its final 360 stores after filing for bankruptcy in April

And by the end of the year Walmart will have closed 60 stores since 2021, while Nordstrom Rack will also close 15 stores by the end of next year.

The trend has been in part triggered by rising crime rates. Target CEO Brian Cornell revealed last week that the chain was on track to lose $500 million a year to shoplifting.

Employees at one store said the problem was so rife stores were being robbed every ten minutes.

Crime-ridden San Francisco has been hit worst by the crisis, with more than half of its downtown retailers shuttering since the pandemic.

Out of 203 retailers open in 2019 in the city’s Union Square area, just 107 are still operating, a drop of 47 percent in just a few pandemic-ravaged years.

And this week it was revealed High-end retailer Nordstrom is cutting almost 400 jobs in the city.