Forever 21 Underestimated Young Women

There’s no single reason that so many stalwarts of the American mall have fallen on such hard times. Shopping-center foot traffic has been on the decline. Internet commerce is ballooning in popularity. Some mall retailers expanded too quickly and have real-estate and inventory albatrosses around their necks. Some just make stuff people don’t really want. But for teen-focused retailers like Forever 21, whose businesses have sputtered in a time when kids are primed to shop from the first moment they clutch their mother’s smartphone, one miscalculation looms large. Those mall stores helped seal their own fates by underestimating the sophistication and resourcefulness of young people. Read more at The Atlantic.