Defunct Brands in the 2000s

Brands here are grouped by their most relevant year in the 2000s (we prefer the year a brand ended; if unknown, we use the start year).

26 brands in this decade

• Casual Corner (1950–2005) • Liquidation and closure of remaining stores in 2005 after a multi-year wind-down of the chain and related concepts. Retail
• Circuit City (1949–2009) • Liquidation of all U.S. retail stores in early 2009 following a Chapter 11 filing until later resurfaced online under new owners. Retail
• Compaq (1982–2002) • Merged with Hewlett-Packard; HP–Compaq on May 3, 2002. The brand was later retired in many markets. Computers
• Cookie Break (1970–2000) • Discontinued due to low sales Food/CPG
• Hershey’s Swoops (2003–2006) • Discontinued around 2006 after weak sales and positioning confusion. Food/Snacks
• KB Toys (1922–2009) • Liquidation of remaining stores in 2009 following late-2008 bankruptcy; trademarks later saw intermittent online/popup revivals. Retail
• Linens 'n Things (1975–2008) • Filed Chapter 11 in 2008 and liquidated U.S. stores; brand later relaunched online under new ownership. Retail
• Napster (original) (1999–2001) • Shut down following court rulings against its centralized P2P service; company later filed Chapter 11 (2002) and the brand was reused by successors. Software/Internet
• Netscape (1994–2008) • AOL acquired Netscape in 1999 in a deal worth 10 billion dollars. The Netscape brand lingered through the 2000s as a minor portal and browser label before AOL ended all support for Netscape-branded browsers on March 1 2008. The Mozilla codebase Netscape open-sourced in 1998 went on to power Firefox, and technologies Netscape engineers invented including JavaScript, SSL encryption, and HTTP cookies remain foundational to the modern web. Software/Internet
• Nickelodeon Moon Shoes (1992–2000) • The Nickelodeon-associated 1990s version faded from mainstream toy shelves by the late 1990s or early 2000s. Later Moon Shoes-style products continued under other manufacturers and online retail listings. Toys/Games
• Oldsmobile (1897–2004) • Discontinued by General Motors; phase-out announced in 2000 with final production ending in 2004 (last model: Alero). Automotive
• original Hard Candy Makeup (1995–2009) • Original brand sold to Walmart in 2009 and reformulated as mass-market line bearing no resemblance to original cult product Consumer Products/Beauty
• Pets.com (1998–2000) • Pets.com shut down in November 2000, 268 days after its IPO. The company had lost $147 million in the first nine months of 2000 and could not find a path to profitability. The sock puppet's rights were later sold for $125,000. E-commerce
• Pizzarias (1991–2002) • Keebler stopped advertising Pizzarias in 1998 and the chips disappeared from shelves by the early 2000s. They were never brought back. Food/Snacks
• Salon Selectives (1987–2006) • Discontinued in mid-2000s as parent company Unilever streamlined hair care portfolio Consumer Products/Beauty
• Sam Goody (1951–2006) • The Musicland Group, which owned Sam Goody, filed for bankruptcy in January 2006. Most Sam Goody locations closed or were rebranded as FYE by Trans World Entertainment. Retail/Entertainment
• Sega Dreamcast (1998–2001) • Sega stopped making the Dreamcast on March 31, 2001, and left the console hardware business entirely. The company went on to make games for other companies’ platforms instead. Video game consoles
• Sky Dancers (1994–2000) • Galoob recalled all Sky Dancers and Dragon Flyz toys in June 2000 after 170 reported injuries. About 8.9 million units were pulled from shelves and the toys were never brought back. Toys/Games
• SKYY Blue US (2002–2004) • Skyy Blue, the cobalt-bottled malt beverage born from a partnership between Miller Brewing and Skyy Spirits, fizzled out of the U.S. market by 2004 as the entire malternative category it helped build came crashing down around it. Alcoholic Beverages
• Snapple Elements (1999–early-to-mid 2000s) • Snapple Elements launched in 1999 and faded from most stores in the early 2000s. The line is no longer part of Snapple's regular lineup, but it is still one of the most talked-about discontinued drinks from that era. Beverages/Non-alcoholic
• Sparks (Original Caffeinated Formula) (2002–2008) • Reformulated in late 2008 after MillerCoors reached a settlement with state regulators. The original formula lost its caffeine, taurine, guarana, and ginseng, which ended the version most people remember. Alcoholic Beverages
• The CSI Fingerprint Examination Kit (2007–2007) • Recalled in 2007 after powder found to contain up to 5% asbestos and permanently discontinued with no relaunch Toys/Games
• Tilt (Original Formula) (2005–2008) • The original caffeinated Tilt formula was pulled in 2008 after Anheuser-Busch agreed with state attorneys general to stop making caffeinated alcoholic drinks. The brand continued for a while in a changed version without the stimulant ingredients. Alcoholic Beverages
• Tower Records (1960–2006) • Tower Records filed for bankruptcy in 2004, restructured, then filed again in 2006. All US stores closed by late 2006. Some Tower-branded stores outside the US kept running under separate ownership. The Tower Records name later came back as an online store. Retail/Entertainment
• TWA (1930–2001) • TWA went bankrupt and American Airlines announced in January 2001 that it would buy most of the airline's assets. TWA stopped flying as its own airline later that year. Travel/Airlines
• Zima (1993–2008) • Zima stopped selling in the U.S. in 2008 after years of declining sales. It came back for limited runs in 2017 and 2018, and it returned in Japan in 2023 through a new brewing partnership. Beverages/Alcohol