At least a dozen boutiques in Baton Rouge have closed or shifted online in the past 12 months, 225 reports.
Nationally, brick-and-mortar retail sales have fluctuated for years, and 2024 saw some big casualties. Names like Family Dollar, Rue 21 and Express announced hundreds of closures across the nation. Are inflation-fatigued shoppers just not adding to cart? Is a rise in online fast fashion to blame for the retail downturn?
“I’m on track to make my goal for this year, but I’ve seen no increase in sales,” says Abby Bullock, owner of Wanderlust by Abby. “They’ve stayed robust, but I just haven’t seen an increase.”
To compensate, she has made small changes and cut unnecessary expenses. She got rid of her water cooler, downsized her storage unit and has been more intentional about what she stocks.
She motions to a full, discounted rack of athleisure toward the back of the shop and says she probably won’t stock as much workout gear next year.
Though boutiques have come and gone while Bullock has operated her storefront over the past decade, she says that with the exception of COVID’s early days, she has never seen as many shops exit the brick-and-mortar format.
