You may have heard by now that Steve & Barry’s has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. (If you haven’t you can check the story here.) It leaves me wondering what will happen to the one that was supposed to open in the West Manchester Mall.
I don’t know if you’ve ever shopped at Steve & Barry’s but back when I was in high school, I used to love it. The stores sell a lot of university gear (think T-shirts, hoodies and sweatpants stamped with your favorite college’s insignias.)
As a senior in high school, it was so much easier on my budget to spend $7 on a T-shirt to a potential future university than the $20 I would have had to spend in the university book store.
My University of Maryland hoodie that I still wear all the time is a Steve & Barry’s find. I think I paid $9 for it. At the Maryland book store, I would have paid between $40 and $50.
Our entertainment reporter was really excited to hear that the store in the West Manchester Mall was opening because she wanted to try out Sarah Jessica Parker’s new line, which Steve & Barry’s exclusively sells.
The fate of the local store is still up in the air. The spokeswoman for Steve & Barry’s said the owners are analyzing all their costs and have made no decisions about any new stores. There isn’t a timeline for when it will be decided either.
So I guess for now we’ll just have to wait and see.
Though if the stores close, I’ll be sad to start paying $20 for my Maryland gear.
