Forever 21 has filed for bankruptcy a year after closing its Dublin store

Fashion retailer Forever 21 filed for bankruptcy yesterday, September 29.

The retailer is expected to close 178 of its 800 stores to begin with, with reports that the decisions as to which stores they're going to close is ongoing. Forever 21 closed its only Irish store located in Jervis St Shopping Centre in 2018. The store folded due to the booming online shopping sector and lack of footfall.

"We do however expect a significant number of these stores will remain open and operate as usual, and we do not expect to exit any major markets in the U.S.," the company said in a release to CNN.

This year alone over 8,200 retailers in the US have announced store closings with 20 major US companies filing for bankruptcy since the start of 2017. High debt levels and rent costs are burdening traditional retailers and causing profitable companies to struggle as they try to keep up with low-cost, fast-fashion online stores. Forever 21 plans to exit Japan by the end of October, closing all 14 stores as well as international stores in Europe and Asia. The US retailer is  reported to have 30,000 employees in both full and part-time roles.