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Rent the Runway is permanently closing all its stores

Clothing rental company says they will instead focus on growing its network of drop boxes
Rent the Runway is permanently closing all its stores
Posted at 11:38 AM, Aug 14, 2020
and last updated 2020-08-14 14:38:40-04

Rent the Runway announced on Friday that they would not be reopening their stores.

In a blog post, the clothing rental company said they would focus on expanding their drop-off box program, with their New York flagship store turning into a drop-off-only site.

According to the company's website, its locations in San Francisco, Washington D.C., and Chicago are permanently closed.

The stores were used for customers to drop off items and swap out for whatever they needed.

"With customers in 76% of US zip codes and RTR stores in only 5 of them, less than 15% of our customers were served by our stores — but the drop-off capability was so loved by them," the company said in the blog post. "That’s when we knew we had to bring this convenience to even more customers by expanding our Drop-off Box network through key partnerships and retailers."

In 2018, the company partnered up with WeWork, Nordstrom, and West Elm as they expanded their return program.

Back in March, due to the coronavirus pandemic, the company laid off all of its retail staff "to safeguard the future of our staff and business."