In memoriam: Iconic retail brands we lost in 2020

Although 2020 was a historic year for corporate bankruptcy filings, plenty of major retailers seem poised to emerge once again.

What happened

This story is part of Endgames, a Digiday Media editorial package focused on what’s next, what’s coming, and what’s being phased out in the industries we cover. Access the rest of our Endgames coverage here; to read Glossy’s Engames coverage, click here; Modern Retail’s coverage is available here.

Why it matters

In some ways the story of 2020 is clear-cut: the major chains that built their businesses around catering to mall shoppers or office workers didn’t stand a chance against 9 months and counting of quarantine.

But, oddly, 2020 might prove to be the year of the zombie brand. Although it’s a historic year for corporate bankruptcy filings, plenty of major retailers — including J.C. Penney, Hertz and Guitar Center — seem poised to emerge once again. And even the companies that did shutter all of their physical stores are already on track to find a second life online, thanks to investors like Retail Ecommerce Ventures buying e-commerce rights to the brands out of bankruptcy.

More innumerable than the major chains felled by the pandemic, though, is the devastation endured by local businesses. Yelp estimated that over 800 small businesses have closed every day this year. The city-by-city obituaries for lost small businesses are slowly rolling out.

This news brief is based on reporting published by Modern Retail on 2020-12-30. The original report is linked below.