Department Stores That Don't Exist Anymore

• Keeping a department-store chain afloat can be tricky.
• Dozens of regional and national chains have collapsed over the years, even before the retail apocalypse got started.
• Check out these companies that have succumbed to changing tastes, the advent of shopping malls, poor business practices, and tough luck.

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Retail can be a merciless business.

Take department stores, for instance. A quick scan of any list of defunct department-store chains reveals that it's a business that doesn't take kindly to mistakes — or even just plain old bad luck.

Read more: 7 crimes that shook the world of retail

The retail apocalypse began roughly around 2008, around the time the recession kicked off. But the history of retail is littered with department-store chains that sunk long before that.

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Here's a list of department store chains that went under — or fell into an irreversible decline — before the retail apocalypse began raging:

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