BUCKTOWN — Upscale women's clothing store BCBG will be shuttering four of its Chicago storefronts in mid-April as part of a restructuring prompted by a shift to online shopping, according to reports and a company spokesman.
The impending closings — part of 120 nationwide — will impact workers at BCBG stores in Bucktown/Wicker Park, 1714 N. Damen Ave., the Gold Coast, 113 E. Oak St.; Lincoln Park, 2140 N. Halsted St. and Old Town, 853 W. Armitage Ave., the spokesman confirmed on Wednesday.
According to signs in the windows of the BCBG Bucktown/Wicker Park outpost, the "entire store" is on sale, with most items priced between 30 and 50 percent off.
Seth Lubove, a spokesman for the Vernon, California-based BCBG with firm Sitrick & Co., said "BCBG is committed to taking the necessary steps to realign our brand going forward. We will focus on the future by investing in our partner relationships, driving sales in our remaining stores, exploring licensing opportunities, and expanding our digital reach.”
The 120 stores that "are unprofitable or have untenable lease agreements" will close following store sales over the next eight to 10 weeks, Lubove said.
“As previously disclosed, we are repositioning our BCBG brands and operations for the future with a focus on digital, ecommerce, selected retail locations, in-store boutiques and wholesale and licensing arrangements. As part of our effort to realign BCBG, we have had to make the difficult decision to reduce the total number of our retail stores," Lubove said.
John Krenger, owner of the 102-year-old Bucktown/Wicker Park building at the southwest corner of Damen and St. Paul avenues and BCBG's landlord, said he just found out about the closure a few weeks ago. The 4,000-square-foot store opened there in 2009.
"We are in the process of getting it out for rent," Krenger said of the spot, next to a former Marc Jacobs store that closed in November.
It was not immediately clear how many BCBG shops would remain open in the United States. Apparel News reported that 50 of BCBG's 170 U.S. stores could be staying open and another 128 stores of the approximately 400 outside of the United States—with concentrations in Canada, Europe and Japan—will remain up and running.
BCBG is closing in mid-April, workers said. [DNAinfo/Alisa Hauser]
