Bankrupt Eddie Bauer joins growing list of retailers closing Florida stores

Another retailer is shutting down stores in Florida.

This time it’s the operator of Eddie Bauer stores, which is closing its three remaining locations in the state after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Monday. The closing includes its only regional store, which is at Citrus Park Town Center in Tampa.

With the announced closings, Eddie Bauer, the outdoor apparel retailer, joins Saks Global and American City Furniture in announcing it was shutting stores across the region in the first 45 days of the year.

According to court records, Eddie Bauer LLC filed for bankruptcy with $1.7 billion in debt due to what it calls a “challenging commercial environment.”

“Specifically,” the company says in court papers, it “has been forced to grapple with macroeconomic and retail-specific market pressures and headwinds, including, among other things, reduced discretionary spending on outdoor apparel, persistent inflation, and post-COVID-19 supply chain issues.”

It goes on to say that given the costs of operating a brick-and-mortar location and the issues with the retail industry as a whole, a large number of its stores are operating at “sub-optimal levels.”

(Eddie Bauer’s retail stores are operated by Catalyst Brands. Reuters reports Eddie Bauer’s online sales, apparel manufacturing and wholesale sales businesses are owned separately and will not be impacted.)

Before filing for bankruptcy, the company allowed the leases on 49 stores to expire on Jan. 31 and those stores have been closed.

As for the remaining 175 stores, liquidation sales began Jan. 27 and Feb. 7 and will continue through the bankruptcy process unless a going concern buyer materializes. The company, in court papers, says it expects the sales to continue for 13 weeks.

In addition to the Citrus Park Town Center location, the company’s other Florida stores are in St. Augustine and Orlando. Both are outlet stores.

Among other retailers announcing closings in the region thus far in 2026, bankrupt Saks Global announced in late January that it was shutting down most of its Off 5th discount retail stores, including three in the region — Pasco, Manatee and Collier counties.

And in early January, a bankruptcy court approved the closure of the 89 remaining American Signature Inc. furniture stores — 79 Value City locations and 10 American Signature stores.

Of the American Signature stores closing, four were local — Fort Myers, Brandon, Tampa and Sarasota.

Along with Saks and American Signature, GameStop announced late last year in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing that it planned to close “a significant number” of stores in 2026.

While the company does not disclose in advance which store will shut down, the business publication FastCompany places the number at more than 470. Of those, 25 are in Florida with six in the region — one each in Tampa, Clearwater, Naples, Port Richey and two in Fort Myers.

It’s not just retailers that are closing.

Darden Restaurants also announced earlier this month that it was closing its 28 Bahama Breeze Island Grille locations, half of which will be renamed under one of its other brands. Among those to be rebranded are all four of its local restaurants — Tampa, Lutz, Brandon and Fort Myers.

And the Boston restaurant chain Kelly’s Roast Beef has closed all of its local eateries — two in Collier and one each in Parrish, Sarasota and Seminole.