All Bebe Stores Will Be Doing This Soon

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Shares of BEBE fell in pre-market trading on Friday after the company released some disappointing news. Many fashionistas may be a little sad to find out that Bebe will be closing up shop, at least its brick-and-mortar locations. This means 180 store as the company said on its website that this is how many stores the California-based retailer had at the end of last year.

The company announced on Friday that it expects to close all of its brick-and-mortar locations by the end of May.

Previously Bebe had said it was committed to closing 21 locations, which represented roughly 12 percent of its total outlets.

The transition to the online-only model comes as no surprise when many brick-and-mortar stores are suffering as online sales dominate. Payless ShoeSource just announced earlier this month that it would be closing 400 stores. Bloomberg had reported in March that Bebe had plans to close all of its stores in hopes of avoiding bankruptcy.

Bebe also announced on Friday that it expects to recognize an impairment charge of approximately $20 million, net of deferred rent and other credits, as a result of closing the remainder of its stores. According to an SEC filing, this impairment charge will be recorded in the third and fourth quarters of this year.

Shares fell more than 4% before the market opened on Friday but managed to climb back to close over 6%.

BEBE did not specify Friday what its future plans are.

Disclaimer: We have no position in Bebe Stores Inc. (NASDAQ: BEBE) and have not been compensated for this article.

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