Department stores, specialty shops, and mall icons that shuttered—browse timelines, fates, and what led to the downfall.

• Best Buy Mobile

  🔒 Fate: shutdown Best Buy’s mall-format phone shops that peaked in the smartphone boom, then quietly shut.

  2007–2018 🏷️ Retail

• Borders

  💥 Fate: bankruptcy Bookstore giant that bet against e-books and lost

  1971–2011 🏷️ Retail

• Casual Corner

  📉 Fate: liquidated Dressed working women for decades, died with the mall

  1950–2005 🏷️ Retail

• Circuit City

  💥 Fate: bankruptcy Electronics giant with 700 stores, beaten by Best Buy

  1949–2009 🏷️ Retail

• Fry's Electronics

  🔒 Fate: shutdown Silicon Valley's paradise for nerds, killed by Amazon

  1985–2021 🏷️ Retail

• Hollywood Video

  🤝 Fate: acquired Blockbuster's biggest 1990s rival that vanished in the streaming era.

  1988–2010 🏷️ Retail

• KB Toys

  💥 Fate: bankruptcy Holiday shopping nostalgia, couldn't compete with Walmart

  1922–2009 🏷️ Retail

• Kinney Shoes

  🔒 Fate: shutdown The shoe chain that quietly launched Foot Locker — and then disappeared when the parent company doubled down on sneakers.

  1894–1998 🏷️ Retail

• Linens 'n Things

  💥 Fate: bankruptcy Bed Bath & Beyond's rival, died in the recession

  1975–2008 🏷️ Retail

• Ritz Camera

  💥 Fate: bankruptcy One-hour photo labs in every mall, killed by digital cameras and smartphones.

  1918–2012 🏷️ Retail

• Sears (Canada)

  📉 Fate: liquidated Outlasted catalog era, couldn't survive e-commerce

  1952–2018 🏷️ Retail

• Toys “R” Us

  💥 Fate: bankruptcy Childhood wonderland crushed by $5B debt and Amazon

  1948–2018 🏷️ Retail

• Tuesday Morning

  💥 Fate: bankruptcy Discount home goods for 49 years, closed all stores in 2023

  1974–2023 🏷️ Retail

• Wet Seal

  💥 Fate: bankruptcy Mall-era fast fashion for teens and young women; twice-bankrupt, shuttered stores in 2017.

  1962–2017 🏷️ Retail

• Woolworth (US)

  🔒 Fate: shutdown The five-and-dime that evolved into Foot Locker’s parent company.

  1879–1997 🏷️ Retail