UpTrajectory Review
Torrid, the plus-sized women's fashion retailer, is closing 170 stores as part of a larger portfolio restructuring driven by fundamental shifts in mall performance and customer traffic. The company has been shuttering locations throughout 2026, with 20 additional closures in the first quarter alone. This move reflects a painful but deliberate calculation: some malls are dying, and retailers must abandon them or die with them. The broader retail landscape shows mixed signals—overall mall traffic ticked upward in Q1 2026 according to Placer.ai data—but that headline masks a harsh reality: performance is wildly uneven across locations.
For small-business operators who lease space in regional malls or rely on mall anchor tenants as draw traffic, Torrid's retreat is a warning sign worth taking seriously. When a national chain with Torrid's scale decides a location is not worth keeping open, that mall's viability is in genuine question. Commercial real estate firm Green Street Advisors grades malls on a three-tier system: A-tier properties have strong tenant mix and high sales per square foot; B and C-tier malls face what Green Street calls "dire" retail prospects. Many B-rated malls and below will be repurposed entirely within the next decade. If your business depends on mall foot traffic or shares a location with struggling anchors, the math is shifting against you.
What matters here is not just that Torrid is closing stores—retail consolidation is routine—but which stores Torrid is closing and why. The company has not publicly named specific locations, citing lack of "confirmed details," which is corporate speak for "we are still figuring out which malls will survive." Green Street's grading system offers a clue: Torrid is almost certainly abandoning C-tier and marginal B-tier properties where sales per square foot cannot sustain rent. The real contest is whether mid-tier B malls can retain enough diverse tenants to remain viable. For operators in those locations, this is the moment to assess whether your mall's tenant roster is strengthening or hollowing out.
The closure cascade has second-order effects that extend beyond Torrid's footprint. When a large retailer exits a mall, it reduces foot traffic for remaining tenants, which can trigger additional closures in a death spiral. Landlords facing vacancy losses may raise rents on remaining tenants to compensate, accelerating departures. Small businesses in B-tier malls face a squeeze: their landlord is desperate to fill space, but declining traffic makes survival harder. Simultaneously, operators in A-tier malls benefit from reduced competition and stronger traffic as the market consolidates around top-performing properties.
If your business operates in a regional mall, do three things now: First, obtain your landlord's most recent lease activity and tenant roster—has the mix held stable or deteriorated? Second, pull your own traffic and sales data for the past 18 months and compare it to your pre-2024 baseline. Third, stress-test your lease renewal assuming 10-15 percent higher rent if your mall is mid-tier; landlords are already doing this math. For operators in strong malls, this is consolidation working in your favor. For those in weakening properties, the time to negotiate or relocate is before your landlord's desperation turns into aggressive rent hikes or, worse, a shift away from retail altogether.
Takeaway: Mall-dependent retailers are fleeing B and C-tier properties; operators in those locations should audit tenant stability and lease terms now.
Excerpt from the original — TheStreet
When you look at mall traffic from a broad view, it seems like large-scale shopping centers remain on strong footing."Traffic to malls increased in Q1 2026 across all three formats analyzed — indoor malls, open-air shopping centers, and outlet malls — largely thanks to strong performances in the first two months of the year," according to Placer.ai's March Mall Index.That, however, is not the full story, as some malls have thrived while others have struggled. It's a situation that has forced retailers like plus-sized women's fashion retailer Torrid to rethink their store portfolios.Green Street Advisors, a commercial real estate research firm, uses a proprietary grading system to classify malls into A, B, and C tiers based on factors including tenant mix, sales per square foot, location, and physical condition.A malls = Strongest tenant mix, highest sales per square foot, best locations …