A local Maurices store shuts its doors. A headline pops up in the local news. And suddenly, loyal shoppers start wondering if the whole chain is finished. That reaction makes sense — but it does not tell the full story.
This article breaks down what is actually happening with Maurices. We will cover whether the brand is closing, what the ownership changes really meant, why individual store closures happen, and how to check on a specific location near you.
Maurices Is Not Going Out of Business — Here Is What Is Actually Happening
Let’s get straight to the point: Maurices, the women’s clothing chain, is not bankrupt. It has not announced a nationwide shutdown. The brand continues to operate physical stores and its website, maurices.com.
The confusion usually starts when a local Maurices closes and the story gets picked up by regional news. Those headlines can sound alarming, but a single store closing is very different from a company collapsing.
There is also a naming problem worth clearing up. Maurices (women’s clothing) and Maurice Sporting Goods are two completely different companies. Maurice Sporting Goods, a sporting goods wholesaler based in Northbrook, Illinois, did file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and announced layoffs. That has nothing to do with the Maurices clothing brand. If you saw a bankruptcy headline and thought it referred to the clothing stores, that is likely the mix-up.
What Maurices Is and How It Got to This Point
Maurices is a women’s clothing retailer founded in 1931 and based in Duluth, Minnesota. It has focused on small and mid-sized markets across the United States — the kinds of towns that often do not have big mall anchor stores or designer boutiques.
For about 14 years, Maurices was owned by Ascena Retail Group, a larger company that also owned brands like Justice, Dressbarn, and Ann Taylor. That period of ownership is where things started to get complicated.
Ascena ran into serious financial trouble. Its CEO, David Jaffe, publicly described an “extremely competitive market environment” and pointed to declining in-store traffic as shoppers moved online. To deal with those pressures, Ascena announced plans to close around 250 stores across its brands, with potentially 400 more closures possible depending on how lease negotiations went.
Because Maurices was part of Ascena’s portfolio, it was caught up in all of this uncertainty. When multiple brands under one parent company start closing locations, it is natural for shoppers to worry about each of those brands individually.
The 2019 Sale to OpCapita — A Spin-Off, Not a Shutdown
In 2019, Ascena sold a majority stake in Maurices to OpCapita LLP, a European private equity firm. The deal was valued at approximately $300 million.
Ascena kept a roughly 49.6% minority interest and continued supporting Maurices through a managed services agreement covering IT, supply chain, and back-office operations. Ascena used around $200 million from the sale proceeds to reduce its own debt.
This is an important distinction. The sale was not a sign that Maurices was being wound down or abandoned. It was a deliberate business decision by Ascena to spin off an asset in order to stabilize its own finances. Think of it like a parent company selling off a division to focus on its core business — the division keeps running, just under new ownership.
Under OpCapita, Maurices became a standalone business with its own investment focus. That is a very different situation from a company filing for bankruptcy or announcing it is shutting down entirely.
Local Store Closures Are Real — But They Are Not the Same as a Chain-Wide Collapse
This is the part that trips most people up. Individual Maurices locations have permanently closed. That is a fact. But a single store closing does not mean the company is finished.
Take two documented examples. The Maurices at Macedonia Commons in Ohio closed permanently on April 18. When that happened, customers were told they could shop at a nearby Maurices location in Stow or visit maurices.com. The store closed — the brand did not.
Similarly, the Maurices at Commerce Square in Brownwood, Texas permanently closed on June 25, 2022. Employees confirmed the closure, but corporate did not give reasons specific to that location. Again, a single site shut down — not the entire company.
In retail, individual store closures happen regularly. The reasons are often local: a lease becomes too expensive, foot traffic drops in that particular shopping center, or sales at that specific location do not justify the overhead. These decisions are made at the store level, not because the brand as a whole is failing.
A useful comparison: many apparel chains have closed dozens of underperforming mall locations over the past decade while still operating hundreds of other stores and growing their online sales. Closing a store is a standard business move, not an obituary.
How to Tell a Local Closure from a Company-Wide Problem
If you hear that a Maurices near you is closing, here is how to put it in context rather than assuming the worst.
- Check maurices.com directly. If the website is still active and taking orders, the company is operating.
- Use the store locator. The official Maurices store locator will show you which locations are still open and near you.
- Look at what the local article actually says. Most local coverage of a Maurices closure also mentions nearby locations that remain open and that online shopping continues.
- Search for corporate announcements. If Maurices were filing for bankruptcy or announcing a full shutdown, it would appear in business news — not just local community papers.
Gift cards and loyalty rewards are typically valid chain-wide, but if your local store has closed, you would need to use them online or at another location. It is always worth confirming that directly with Maurices customer service rather than assuming.
Why Mid-Market Apparel Retailers Face Real Pressure
None of this means Maurices is completely in the clear forever. Mid-market apparel retail is a tough space right now. The pressures Ascena’s CEO described — online shopping growth, declining foot traffic, and intense competition — have not gone away.
Brands that serve small-town and suburban markets face specific challenges. If a shopping center declines or a town’s demographics shift, a store that was once profitable can become a liability quickly. Retailers in this segment have had to make hard calls about which locations are worth keeping and which are not.
For business owners and retail observers, the Maurices situation is a good example of how ownership changes and store rationalization work in practice. Private equity firms like OpCapita typically buy brands they believe have value, then work to improve margins and position the company for growth or resale. That process often involves closing underperforming locations — which looks alarming from the outside but is often part of a deliberate strategy to make the remaining stores more profitable.
If you want to stay informed about how retail businesses handle these kinds of shifts, DailyBizNotes covers practical business news and analysis without the noise.
What This Means If You Are a Maurices Shopper
If your local Maurices has closed or you heard it might close, here is the practical takeaway.
The brand is still operating. You can shop online at maurices.com. You can find other store locations using the store locator on the website. Your gift cards and rewards should still be usable, though confirm the details with customer service if you are unsure.
If a store near you closes, it does not mean all Maurices locations are closing. It means that specific site was not working for business reasons tied to that location.
The Bottom Line
Maurices is not going out of business. The brand went through a significant ownership change in 2019 when Ascena sold a majority stake to OpCapita, and individual store locations have closed over the years for standard business reasons. Neither of those things is the same as a company shutting down entirely.
The confusion is understandable. Local closure headlines sound alarming, and the mix-up with Maurice Sporting Goods bankruptcy does not help. But if you look at the actual facts — ongoing website, active store locations, no bankruptcy filing — the picture is much clearer.
When a retailer closes a single store, it is worth checking the details before drawing bigger conclusions. Sometimes it really is just one store, and the brand keeps going without it.
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