For online businesses like Amazon and other online retailers, the pandemic has given them the chance to gobble up their market shares as people now tend to shop online because of the fear of the virus, and it’s more convenient and cheaper than the traditional shops and stores. Unfortunately, this means a huge challenge to traditional stores that relies on the physical appearance of their customers and consumers.

And now even the 200-year run Lord & Taylor, the first department store established in the United States, is officially going out of business. The retailer was sold just a year ago for $100 million to Le Tote, a San Francisco online clothing rental company, by Canadian parent Hudson’s Bay Co.

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Lord & Taylor first opened its doors in Manhattan in 1824 as a dry goods store. From this one location in New York, Lord & Taylor spread all across America with a great number of physical locations.

“While we are still entertaining various opportunities, we believe it is prudent to simultaneously put the remainder of the stores into liquidation to maximize the value of inventory for the estate while pursuing options for the company’s brands,” Ed Kremer, Lord & Taylor’s chief restructuring officer said in a statement.

The company filed for bankruptcy on August 2, joining a string of upscale retailers filing for Chapter 11 in recent months. It initially announced 19 stores were closing, then increased that number to 24 a few weeks later. Now every store will close for good.

Its liquidator Hilco Merchant Resources promised expansive deep discounts in a statement Thursday.

“Discounts apply to existing inventory, new store arrivals, and on new categories not previously sold at these stores,” it said. “The historic event will also feature the sale of in-store fixtures, furniture, and equipment.”

This is the reason why many companies are rushing as fast as they can to develop online stores that can help them compete in the new age of internet retail. Whether the strategy is successful remains to be seen, but one thing is certain. After the internet and coronavirus, the retail world will never be the same.

Sources: Sharesplosion, USA Today, CBS News,