While I buy most of my clothes from Amazon, when I needed a new wardrobe for a video shoot, my wife and I went on a tour of local retailers.
Since I needed shirts that would hold up well in hot weather, we went to Target and Bass Pro Shops, and as much as I don’t like trying clothes on, I took advantage of the stores’ dressing rooms.
I’m not alone in wanting to try things on before I buy.
“The opportunity to try on clothes and test products is a major driver of store traffic, with 52% of consumers surveyed saying they go to stores instead of shopping online because of this. References to trying on/testing products surged 32% YoY on average at retailers and were up 58% at beauty retailers,” according to a Chatmeter report published last year.
People, me included, like seeing what they’re buying before committing to a purchase.
“When asked about their favorite part of a recent store visit, 21% mentioned trying a product while 25% mentioned seeing a product in real life,” the data showed.
Once I picked out the shirt I liked, I bought a few from the store, went back a week later to buy more, but then ordered more colors online. And since we no longer live near Bass Pro Shops, I’ll likely become an online customer.
That’s the problem facing retailers like Torrid. Physical stores deliver a better experience because they introduce customers to merchandise and allow them to leave the store with their size. But if customers buy in-store once and then order online, that dramatically changes the economics for brick-and-mortar locations.
That’s at least part of the struggle for Torrid, a women’s specialty retailer featuring plus-sized clothes, which has closed 20% of its stores.
“Digital continues to be our customers’ preferred channel, now approaching 70% of total demand. We’re accelerating our transformation to a more digitally-led business, which includes optimizing our retail footprint,” she said.
Harper then got specific about the planned shutdowns.
“We now plan to close up to 180 underperforming stores this year — allowing us to reduce fixed costs and reinvest in areas that drive long-term growth, including customer acquisition and omnichannel enhancements,” she added.
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Those closures have rolled out slowly, but are now mostly complete, and the company’s challenge is keeping the sales those stores generated.
“As I mentioned on our Q1 call, we substantially completed our store optimization program. To date, we’ve closed an additional six structurally unproductive locations, bringing the total to 177 closures since we initiated the program. Customer retention through this transition has remained strong, with our marketing efforts successfully redirecting traffic both online and to nearby stores,” she said during the company’s second-quarter earnings call.
Torrid has closed about 20% of its retail stores.Shutterstock
Torrid has seen mixed results
Harper tried to sell Torrid’s Q2 results as the company delivering on its plans.
“Our second quarter results were in line with guidance. Sales trends improved meaningfully as the quarter progressed, with July marking a clear inflection point. This improvement reflects early traction from our customer growth strategy and the merchandising course corrections we have made,” she said in a press release.
The results showed that while sales were down, margins and profits improved, suggesting the store closures are helping the company’s bottom line.
Net sales decreased 11.8% to $231.7 million compared to $262.8 million for the second quarter of last year.
Comparable sales decreased 6.3% in the second quarter.
Gross profit margin increased to 38.7% compared to 35.6% in the second quarter of last year.
Gross profit margin, excluding the benefit of tariff refunds received, was 33.9%
Net income was up to $5.2 million, or $0.05 per share, compared to net income of $1.6 million, or $0.02 per share, in the second quarter of last year.
“Torrid shedding a huge chunk of its stores is a brutal, necessary acknowledgment that physical stores were becoming a drag on their bottom line. When over 70% of your sales are happening online, maintaining hundreds of low-productivity mall leases is just burning cash,” RTM Nexus CEO Dominick Miserandino told TheStreet.
He thinks the chain matches the needs of its customer base.
“These are Plus-size specialty shops which rely heavily on deep customer loyalty, and Torrid already retains the majority of those shoppers digitally whenever a local store closes. Trimming underperforming physical locations lets them cut massive real estate overhead and pour capital back into e-commerce, digital marketing, and product,” he added.
The plus-size women’s clothing market has been steadily growing.
“Plus-size clothing for women market revenue was valued at $23.6 billion in 2024 and is estimated to reach $37.4 billion by 2033, growing at a CAGR of 6.5% from 2026 to 2033,” according to data from Verified Market Reports.
CAGR, or compound annual growth rate, shows that the market will be expanding.
The report also shared some other key facts about the growing women’s plus-sized fashion market.
E‑commerce channels are growing at the fastest pace, comprising more than 60% of sales and outpacing traditional brick‑and‑mortar outlets.
North America currently dominates the market, accounting for more than 35% of total revenue, with Europe and Asia Pacific following closely.
The shift to online sales has been noticeable, even as more traditional retailers, including Target, have broadened their in-store selections to be more size-inclusive.
Over a year ago, when the shutdowns were announced, GlobalData Managing Director Neil Saunders shared his support for the chain’s actions.
“The closures are largely sensible, since they will free up capital to invest in things like better marketing and product development,” Saunders told NewJersey.com. “Money will also go into stores that are showing potential.”
