Women's clothing retailer Francesca's closing all stores, including 3 on Long Island

Women’s clothing retailer Francesca’s is closing all its stores, including the three on Long Island, after 25 years in business.

The closures will include Francesca’s stores at Tanger Outlets Deer Park, Tanger Outlets Riverhead and Smith Haven Mall in Lake Grove.

An employee at the retailer's Deer Park store told Newsday the store will close but she didn’t know when.

An employee at the Riverhead store said she couldn’t comment, and referred media questions to a consultant working for Francesca’s.

An employee at the Lake Grove said she was “only allowed to say that we are liquidating our inventory.”

Francesca's corporate office in Houston did not comment Wednesday.

While Francesca’s has not yet announced an official final date for the closures, it is advertising a 20% off sale on its website.

“We are liquidating our inventory and closing soon," a customer service representative told Women’s Wear Daily in a report Jan. 15. A source also told the outlet the retailer’s merchants were “let go” Jan. 14 “with no warning.”

According to one of Francesca’s vendors, the liquidation is believed to include “inventory that has not been paid for.” The vendor also alleged that the firm is owed $250 million in unpaid invoices, telling WWD that “there has been no correspondence whatsoever from corporate to any of the vendors.” Liquidation sales were reported to have begun as early as Jan. 16.

The women’s boutique-style retail chain, most commonly found in shopping malls, was founded in 1999 in Houston by siblings Chong Yi, Kyong Gill and Insuk Koo, along with their friend John De Meritt.

Unlike traditional department stores, they aimed to replicate the intimate feel of a local boutique. Francesca’s inventory consisted mostly of apparel, jewelry, accessories and unique gift items at accessible price points.

In its heyday, the company operated more than 700 stores across 48 states. Francesca’s filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 2020 following declining sales and announced it would close 140 stores. In 2021, the company’s assets were sold for $18 million to Francesca’s Acquisition LLC, an affiliate of Los Angeles-based private equity investment firm TerraMar Capital LLC.

Despite the sale, the company continued to struggle financially. In the years following its exit from bankruptcy, Francesca’s attempted several revival efforts, including by launching a tween-oriented line called Franki by Francesca’s and acquiring the Miley Cyrus and Suki Waterhouse’s lifestyle brand Richer Poorer. The chain also opened a new store at the American Dream mall in East Rutherford, New Jersey, in April 2024.

Francesca’s website still lists hundreds of operating locations, with about 450 stores in 45 states.

Newsday's Tory N. Parrish contributed to this story.