Wet Seal to shut all its stores: Report

Fashion retailer Wet Seal plans to shut all its stores. In a report, The Wall Street Journal cited a letter dated 20 January that said Wet Seal vice president Michelle Stocker wrote that the retailer could not find the funding or partnership it needed, and ''will receive no further financing for its operations.''

The closing of Wet Seal's 171 stores would come only two years after the Irvine, California-based chain filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and closed two-thirds of its stores, laying off almost 3,700 workers. It had then aimed to retrench, focusing on its best performing stores and bolstering its online sales. The Newport Beach-founded  company grew from a small swimwear destination in 1962 to a popular, and profitable, store chain. The retailer mixed trendy, teen attire along with swimsuits.

However, like many other retailers, Wet Seal had struggled in recent years as consumers took to shopping online, bypassing malls. The chain fought off competition from an increasing number of fashion giants, like Zara and H & M, who sought to cater to the tastes of the same fashion-fickle, youthful crowd.

According to Greg Portell, lead partner in the retail practice for consulting firm AT Kearney, the broader issues facing retailers like Wet Seal are "a group of consumers who are expecting faster, more responsive, apparel options.''

The retailer filed a notice in California on 20 January saying that it was firing 148 employees in Irvine, where it was headquartered, in what it described as a ''permanent'' closure.

The store started as Lorne's after founder Lorne Huycke, but the California-themed apparel brand soon changed its name when Huycke's wife saw a woman modeling a black bathing suit that she thought resembled ''a wet seal.''

Through the 1980s and 1990s, the store expanded across the country, and with the growth, the privately-held firm rolled out the unisex teen clothier retailer Limbo Lounge and later acquired 200 Contempo Casual stores from Neiman Marcus Group.