Why Forever 21 stands out in the retail apocalypse

And why they might still have a fighting chance to survive

Forever 21.
(Image credit: Illustrated | Drew Angerer/Getty Images, Wikimedia Commons)

Stories of the "retail apocalypse" have become a standard fixture in business reporting in recent years, as one major chain after another has filed for bankruptcy. Most of the time, the effects of the internet, competition, and bad business decisions get the headlines. What's frustrating is what these stories so often leave out: the role of private equity. The fact that these retailers were bought up by major Wall Street players, loaded up with debt, and then slowly bled for cash, goes unmentioned — or is consigned to the tenth paragraph.

In that sense, the demise of Forever 21 stands out precisely because it is an example of how those other factors can overturn a once-thriving business.

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Jeff Spross

Jeff Spross was the economics and business correspondent at TheWeek.com. He was previously a reporter at ThinkProgress.