Boxing Retail Griff
By: Daniel Munoz
NorthJersey.com
USA Today Network - New Jersey
..... Two chains, each with dozens of stores in New Jersey, have announced plans to shutter locations in the Garden State and nationwide amid bankruptcies they both say are fueled by uncertainty from President Donald Trump's tariffs.
..... The first home goods retailer At Home, which is closing three New Jersey stores this year, [2025] including one in Ledgewood.
..... The second is mall jewelry chain Clair's which has 25 stores in New Jersey and may be closing its most recent store, at the American Dream mall in East Rutherford, as well as another at Livingston Mall in Essex County.
..... The problems for those two chains run much deeper than Trump's tariffs, which went into effect August 7 [2025] on dozens of U.S. trading partners, some analyses have told NorthJersey.com .
..... "At Home had weak financial prior to 2025 and a model of retail based on almost all imported," said Dave Marcotte, a senior vice president at market research firm Kantar.
..... "I suspect the issue of tariffs was less to do with their costs and far more with their short - and mid-term loan terms."
..... For example, At Home had a $496 million loan due December 2026, and it stopped making rent and interest payments on certain unprofitable stores.
..... Clair;s also had longstanding debt problems, said Neil Saunders, a retail analyst and managing director of GlobalData.
..... The chain also saw competition form such Online retailers as Amazon, and from in-person chains like Lovisa, which offer "younger shippers a more sophisticated assortment at value prices," Saunders said.
..... With inflation previously hitting a 40-year high and consumers upending their shopping habits during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, a slew of household names declared bankruptcy or dramatically reduced their footprint.
..... Bed Bath & Beyond and Christmas Tree Shops both filed for bankruptcy in 2023. Forever 21, which has 15 New Jersey stores, declared bankruptcy in April [2025] and announced plans to close all its stores. Rite Aid and CVS closed stores en mases across the U.S. and New Jersey.
Bankruptcies, closures surging
.... Still, bankruptcies through June 2025 were higher than for the first half of any year since 2010, according to a July [2925] analysis by S&{ Global.
..... The surge of bankruptcies was fueled by declining cash on hand by corporation as well as their high debt levels S&P wrote.
.....
"Straining" consumer spending amid Trump's tariffs and a cooling job market also have not helped.
..... Analytics firm Coresight Research reported in July [2025] that the U.S. retail sector was on track to see the highest level of closures since 2019, with 12,000 projected store closures and just 5,700 openings.
..... Tariffs going into effect in August [2025] could push total closures up to 15,000 tanks to even more bankruptcies "among smaller, more vulnerable or more financially exposed companies," Coresight projected.
..... "Given that turbulence began only in the second quarter, and given that tariffs were due to be implemented by the U.S. on August 1, [2025] we could see a greater-than-average shift of store closures, including those driven by bankruptcies, into the second half" of 2025, said Coresight's John Mercer, who hades up global research at the firm.
Furniture trade future uncertain
..... Marcotte, of Kantar, said other furniture stores besides At Home - including Wayfair, RH and Ashley Furniture - also depend on imports from China and India, making them exposed to economic uncertainty.
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Most goods form China are subject to a 30% tariff, but that increases to 145% after an August 12 [2025] deadline. Trump also imposed 50% tariffs on imports from India.
..... Furniture stores are "exposed not only to new custom fees but also fines for documentation mistakes," Marcotte said, "which are hard not to make in this business."