We visited a Charlotte Russe store the day after the company filed to liquidate, and it's clear the retail apocalypse is in full swing

Mary HanburyMar 8, 2019, 01:18 IST

Business Insider/Mary Hanbury

Charlotte Russe filed to liquidate its assets on Wednesday and said it would close its remaining 416 namesake stores and 10 Peek Kids stores.
The mall-based retailer, which is primarily geared toward young women, previously filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February and said at the time that it would close 94 stores.
We visited its only store in Manhattan, which was part of the first wave of store closures. Here's what we found.

The end is nigh for Charlotte Russe.

The mall-based retailer, which is primarily geared toward young women, filed to liquidate its assets on Wednesday and announced it would be closing all of its stores. It previously filed for bankruptcy protection in February and at the time said it would close 94 stores.

We visited Charlotte Russe's only Manhattan store on Thursday to see how the liquidation sales were unfolding. This store was part of the initial wave of store closures announced in February, so the sales were well underway.

A sales assistant could not confirm when the store would be shuttering for good. However, the company said in a bankruptcy court filing on Wednesday that liquidation sales at all its stores would run through April 30.

Here's what we found:

See We visited a Charlotte Russe store the day after the company filed to liquidate, and it's clear the retail apocalypse is in full swing >>

Large signs in the window made it immediately obvious that the entire store was on sale.

Clothing racks were marked with large signs informing customers of the 40% to 60% discounts.

Signs saying "NOTHING HELD BACK" screamed out to customers.

The entire store was on sale.

You could pick up a sweater for as little as $4.99.

The store was also selling off old marketing images.

Charlotte Russe has come under pressure as so-called ultra-fast-fashion stores such as Fashion Nova and Boohoo have entered the market and churned out cheap and trendy clothing.

Charlotte Russe has struggled for some time as its debt has mounted. Last year, it trimmed its debt load from $214 million to $90 million in a restructuring deal.

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We visited a Charlotte Russe store the day after the company filed to liquidate, and it's clear the retail apocalypse is in full swing

Large signs in the window made it immediately obvious that the entire store was on sale.

Clothing racks were marked with large signs informing customers of the 40% to 60% discounts.

Signs saying "NOTHING HELD BACK" screamed out to customers.

The entire store was on sale.

You could pick up a sweater for as little as $4.99.

The store was also selling off old marketing images.

Charlotte Russe has come under pressure as so-called ultra-fast-fashion stores such as Fashion Nova and Boohoo have entered the market and churned out cheap and trendy clothing.

And it has been unable to keep up. While the store is neatly presented, the shopping experience isn't exciting enough to lure customers offline.

Next, we headed upstairs where reality bites.

Only a month ago, this floor was rammed full of clothing.

Now, clothing racks have been replaced by a heavily depleted shoe department.

The store was also selling off fixtures and fittings.

And at the back of the store, mannequins were lined up for sale ...

The retail apocalypse is in full swing.