The end may be near for another major national chain store at Boise Town Square Mall. But there’s still time to take advantage of its trade-out sales.
Eddie Bauer, the outdoor clothing and gear retailer and icon of the Northwest, announced in a bankruptcy filing that it plans to close the Boise store — now its only Idaho store — and its other stores across the U.S. and Canada.
The filing took place on Feb. 9, two weeks after Eddie Bauer closed its store at Boise Factory Outlets, the last surviving retailer there. The Boise Fire Department has begun burning buildings at Boise Factory Outlets for fire training as the site at 6954 S. Eisenman Road transitions to new life as a Kenworth truck dealership.
In its filing, Eddie Bauer LLC said it has “recently faced a challenging business environment” including “voluntary spending reductions in outerwear, continued inflation, and post-COVID-19 supply chain issues.” It said a “significant number” of its stores are “operating at sub-optimal levels.”
All 175 still-open stores have begun selling their remaining inventory, the filing said. Furniture, fixtures and appliances are set to eventually be sold, too.
The filing said Eddie Bauer estimated the stores would close around Mother’s Day in May. But individual stores, possibly including Boise, may close weeks earlier if they run out of merchandise — or run so low that it doesn’t make sense to stay open. The Boise store had many clothing items for sale Monday, although the available selection of individual items was reduced, and some sizes were no longer available.
Signs in the ground floor store windows on Monday read “Entire store 40% to 60% off minimum ticket price” and “Everything must go!”
Inside, a sign at the checkout counter said, “Please note: March 12, 2026, is the last day to redeem your gift cards.”
Could that Thursday be the shop’s last day as well? No one says. A store employee who answered the phone Tuesday referred to the Idaho Statesman as “corporate.” A public-relations firm representing Eddie Bauer told the Statesman that “we are not able to predict any individual closing dates by location at this time.”
There is one last hope for the Boise store to stay open: The company seeks bids from interested businesses for any or all of the stores. “To the extent the lenders determine that selling some or all of the remaining stores would, in their business judgment, maximize the value of their assets, the lenders may pause or discontinue store closings at such stores that are subject to such sale,” the filing says.
