Sarah Jacobs/Business Insider
Limited Too was a '90s staple.
- Stores don't always last forever.
- 1990s favorites like Claire's and Blockbuster were gems of their time. But changing fads and the rise of e-commerce have thrown many of these brands from their once-lofty perch.
- Some stores that thrived in the '90s have survived to this decade. But some have gone bankrupt since their heyday.
- From Payless to Delia's, here are 10 chains that peaked in the '90s but have gone downhill since then.
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Some stores aren't what they used to be.
Many chains like Blockbuster and Claire's enjoyed great success in the 1990s. But in many cases, the good times came to a screeching halt at the start of the 21st century.
Streaming platforms like Netflix and Hulu sent Blockbuster into a death spiral. Declining mall traffic and the rise of e-commerce had a similar effect on other retailers that couldn't quite compete.
Read more: 5 fast-food chains that went extinct in the US but survived internationally
However, some stores have managed to hang on tight, even if by the skin of their teeth.
Toys R Us, the beloved toy store chain, filed for bankruptcy protection in 2017 and then liquidated several months later, but it was revived this year in a new entity called Tru Kids. Payless had 3,295 stores in 1991, but it is currently in the process of closing all its US stores.
We took a trip down memory lane to find 10 brands that peaked in the '90s. Many of them have spiraled downwards since their prime, but some stores, like Hot Topic and Claire's, still exist.