A Major Retail Chain is Closing All Stores Due to COVID-19

A major home decor retailer is closing all of its stores due to the effects of coronavirus.

Pier 1 Imports announced in a statement Tuesday that they plan on

begin[ing] an orderly wind-down of the Company’s retail operations as soon as reasonably possible.

Monmouth and Ocean Pier 1 locations include the Commons at Holmdel, Ocean Plaza in Ocean Township, Howell Commons, Route 35 in Manasquan, the Seacourt Pavilion in Toms River, and in the Manahawkin Commons.

These are just a few of the over 500 stores that will be closing their doors.

This, unfortunately, was a perfect storm. Retail has been on the decline and COVID-19 just made everything worse.

According to Pier 1's CEO, the company had been working for months to find a buyer that would allow operations to continue.

Pier 1 plans to start the closing process begin liquidation sales once locations can reopen. Customers can still make purchases on Pier 1's website. If you have an order in process, it will be filled as usual.

Whenever I report on these closings, the first thing that comes to mind is the people that are going to lose their jobs. There's never a good time to be unemployed but now is an especially bad time.

Pier 1's CEO spoke of the people who kept Pier 1 operating:

We are grateful to our dedicated and hardworking associates, millions of customers, and committed vendors who have collectively supported Pier 1 for decades. We deeply value our associates, customers, business partners, and the communities in which we operate, and this is not the outcome we expected or hoped to achieve.

I have many items from Pier 1. I remember stopping into the Toms River location when I needed to get some things for my first apartment.