A MUCH-LOVED football store is the latest to shut its doors to customers after almost two decades.
Everything Buckeyes, located in the Eastwood Mall in Niles, Ohio, is set to close for good in March.
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Until then, customers can enjoy discounts of 30 per cent, with deals across most of the retailer’s products.
Owner Jeff Lyda said the company had decided to shift gears and focus on their other store, Party On!, according to local news station WKBN First News in Youngstown.
While the retailer is remaining open for another few months, it has requested all gift cards are redeemed by the beginning of February.
A sign posted on the store’s wall thanks customers, reported WKBN.
The speciality sports shop was founded in November 2006 and has been open for 18 years.
It stocks licensed Ohio State and Cleveland Browns merchandise for adults and children, including hoodies, T-shirts, jackets and pants.
According to the website: An Ohio State fan can outfit him or herself with sophisticated dress casual shirts and sweaters or show their true school spirit from head to toe with a scarlet and grey wig, face paint, and Buckeye beads.
“Beyond apparel, EverythingBuckeyes.com sells furniture and accessories that can transform any room in your home into a scarlet and grey heaven.”
In response to a post about the closure on the Everything Buckeye’s Facebook page, the retailer said it was time for a new chapter.
“Back in 2019 we expanded our main store called Party On! at the Eastwood Mall complex.
“Our website and balloon decor has grown a lot over the last few years and we have decided to focus more on those projects.
“We will be expanding our offering of Ohio State merchandise at Party On! in the coming months.”
STORE CLOSURES
Everything Buckeyes is the latest retailer to announce its closure in the past few weeks.
The retail landscape in the US is set for big changes following news that Big Lots is permanently closing all of its remaining 963 stores, after filing for bankruptcy last September.
Another major player, Walgreens, revealed it is shutting three of its California locations before the end of January.
What is the retail apocalypse?
The term has now become common usage to reference the downfall of physical stores as online giants grow.
The term “retail apocalypse” was used by Dennis Dick, a trader at Las Vegas-based Bright Trading LLC in May 2022.
At the time, Walmart’s quarterly profit fell 25 percent, missing Wall Street expectations, and Dick told Reuters: “This is a little bit of a retail apocalypse.”
Dick added: “It was Walmart, and everybody thought it was a one-off.”
“Now that Target missed earnings [by] a lot more than Walmart even did, they’re scared that the consumer is not as strong as everybody thinks,” said Dick.
The stores are three out of at least 1,200 that are due to be axed, as confirmed by Walgreens Boots Alliance CEO Tim Wentworth last October.
Other popular chains that resorted to mass closures, as reported in the US Sun, include CVS, Family Dollar and BuyBuy Baby.
By November 2024, there were 7,100 projected store closures, which marked a 69% increase compared to the same time frame in 2023, according to Newsweek.
This is the largest surge in closures since the Covid pandemic.
Meanwhile shoppers in Somerset, Kentucky, were dismayed to learn their local Subway had shut down.
And the news that Aldi is possibly taking over a Winn-Dixie location in Luling, Louisiana sparked indignation on Facebook.
