The Great Retail Exodus: Michigan Malls Lose Major Brands in 2025

If you've wandered through a Michigan mall lately — say, Meridian, Briarwood, Rivertown, or even Twelve Oaks — you may have noticed a new design trend: giant, echoing hallways where stores used to be. Very minimalist. Very 'post-online-retail chic.'

RELATED: 10 Items Michigan Walmart Won't Take Back This Christmas

According to Newsweek, 2025 is the year mall staples across America decided to call it quits. Sure, foot traffic is up, but apparently "walking around while holding a soft pretzel, sipping coffee, and buying absolutely nothing" isn't keeping the lights on. So which stores are packing up?

Major Retailers Exiting Michigan in 2025

We've got JCPenney, which is closing 8 stores nationwide in 2025. Michigan stores have been spared for now, at least after 2023's closure of seven locations in The Mitten. Forever 21, once the land of clothing so cheap it unraveled if you blinked at it, is shutting all 350 U.S. stores.

The Columbus Dispatch reports Claire's — our beloved teen piercing factory — is closing 235 stores, including 11 Michigan locations (Byron Center, Livonia, Saginaw, Chesterfield, Walker, Gratiot, Westland, Howell, Muskegon, Brighton, and Taylor), leaving tweens everywhere wandering the mall with unpierced ears and no direction in life.

Then there's Macy's, which has already closed 4 locations in Michigan (Flint, Traverse City, Sterling Heights, and Troy) in 2025, and may have more closures coming in 2026. WCZR reports Torrid is closing 180 stores, though it's still unclear whether any Michigan locations will be impacted. Even Party City closed its remaining stores in 2025, leaving a huge gaping hole in the birthday party tablecloth world.

How Malls Are Reinventing Themselves

Everybody's shrinking. Starbucks, Walgreens, Family Dollar. And Michigan's malls? They're feeling it. These closures left gigantic retail caverns that look like the aftermath of a Black Friday sale...except nobody was there. But, thankfully, our malls have evolved.

RELATED: Food and Entertainment: The New Anchor Stores for Michigan Malls

Michigan shoppers may have fewer brick-and-mortar stores to wander through, but we now have more experience-based opportunities like indoor go-karting, ax-throwing, trampoline parks, and barcades. One thing that hasn't changed? Mall walkers. Stay out of their way.