Bay Area Eddie Bauer stores could close amid reports of pending bankruptcy

The 106-year-old outdoor wear chain Eddie Bauer is reportedly pursuing bankruptcy protection and planning to close all 200-plus stores in North America. That could affect the three North Bay locations plus two elsewhere in the Greater San Francisco Bay Area.

Two of the North Bay locations are in Petaluma Village Premium Outlets and Vacaville Premium Outlets, and the third is in the Town Center Corte Madera mall. The closure, first reported Thursday by trade publication Women’s Wear Daily, could come as the Saks Off 5th store in the Petaluma shopping center started its going-out-of-business sale Feb. 2. That’s part of the plan by the parent company of Saks Fifth Avenue and Nieman Marcus to close nearly all the off-price chain’s locations amid bankruptcy reorganization.

Other Bay Area locations are in Milpitas and Gilroy.

These moves follow the start of liquidation sales in mid-January by the Francesca’s chain of women’s boutiques to close all its over 450 locations in 45 states, also reported by the women’s clothing industry news outlet. The only one in the North Bay is at the Bel Aire Plaza shopping center in Napa. California currently has 32 locations, eight others in the greater Bay Area.

Despite a string of headlines about retailers going out of business, restructuring and closing stores, the pace of shuttering storefronts is expected to ease nationwide this year, and store openings inch upward, according to a commercial real estate news service. Real estate data group Coresight Research estimated that over 8,100 stores closed last year, a jump of 12% from 2024.

Partly to blame for the stream of closings, particularly of department stores, is a dramatic acceleration of consumer spending shifting to online and mail-order venues, even operated by the same retailers, amid the public health orders during the pandemic, according to a Substack post by Brookings Institution senior fellow Robin J. Brooks.

“The pandemic forced many households, which had previously resisted the shift to online buying, to switch to the internet and they’ve never gone back,” Brooks wrote.

Eddie Bauer, started in 1920, plans to keep its physical locations in Japan and its online store globally, according to news reports.

This reportedly would be the brand’s third bankruptcy. Its first came in 2003, when it closed over 200 locations. It came out of its second bankruptcy in 2009 after being bought for $286 million by Golden Gate Capital of San Francisco.

Catalyst Brands has been operating the Eddie Bauer North American stores for Authentic Brands, which acquired the brand in 2021. Catalyst also owns Aeropostale, Brooks Brothers, JCPenney, Lucky Brand and Nautica.

The group was formed last year by Authentic, mall operator Simon Property Group, Brookfield Corp. and Shein. Simon owns the Petaluma and Vacaville outlet centers, as well as the Santa Rosa Plaza regional mall.

Meanwhile, Francesca’s, which launched in Texas in 1999, is on its second bankruptcy reorganization. It filed for Chapter 11 in 2020 because of declining sales, closed 140 stores and emerged a year later after the $18 million acquisition of assets by a group led by TerraMar Capital, Tiger Capital Group and SB360 Capital Group.

Jeff Quackenbush joined North Bay Business Journal in May 1999. He covers primarily wine, construction and real estate. Reach him at jeff@nbbj.news or 707-521-4256.