Ann Taylor at Palmer Square to close permanently
Ann Taylor, an anchor store on Palmer Square for more than two decades, will close for good this month.
The last day the women’s fashion reatailer will be open is Wednesday, Jan. 27.
In July, the Ascena Retail Group filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Ascena is the parent company of Ann Taylor, Loft, Lane Bryant, Lou & Grey, Justice, and Catherines. As part of the bankruptcy, the company announced plans to permanently close more than 1,000 stores across all its brands.
The Ann Taylor at the Jackson Premium Outlets has already closed. The Ann Taylor and Loft stores at the Quaker Bridge Mall remain open.
Krystal Knapp is the founding editor of Planet Princeton. Follow her on Twitter @krystalknapp. She can be reached via email at editor AT planetprinceton.com. Send all letters to the editor and press releases to that email address.
I expect Ann Taylor’s demise is mainly due to the lack of need for professional clothes when working virtually.
However, I went there a few days ago, and after checking them out, wanted to wander around Princeton and check out other stores. But I didn’t do very much wandering as the parking meter was running. I noted that about half of the parking spaces in Palmer Square were unused. Now Princeton raised parking fees just before COVID struck because of the high demand for parking in town. Now that there’s very little demand for parking, and our stores are closing, why hasn’t the town responded by lowering or eliminating the parking fees. The town needs to help the remaining businesses in town survive. Then bring back the parking fees when the economy has recovered.