Dive Brief:
- Allbirds will close all of its full-price stores in the U.S. by the end of February, the footwear retailer said in a Wednesday press release. As of its latest quarter, Allbirds had 21 stores in the United States and two brand-run international locations.
- The closures will allow Allbirds to “dedicate resources toward its e-commerce platform, wholesale partnerships and international distributorships, all of which offer greater reach, flexibility and operating leverage,” the company said. Two outlet stores in the U.S. will stay open, as well as two full-price stores in London.
- The one-time DTC darling has been on a journey to pare down its store footprint over the past few years. At the end of 2023, Allbirds operated 60 total stores, including 45 in the United States.
Dive Insight:
After two years of closing underperforming stores, Allbirds is calling it quits on most of its store footprint.
“This is an important step for Allbirds, as we drive toward profitable growth under our turnaround strategy,” CEO Joe Vernachio said in a statement. “We have been opportunistically reducing our brick-and-mortar portfolio over the past two years. By exiting these remaining unprofitable doors, we are taking actions to reduce costs and support the long-term health of the business.”
It marks the reversal of a growth strategy that once foresaw the opening of “hundreds” of stores over time. Instead, the retailer peaked at just over 60 locations globally in 2023, before beating a hasty retreat in the following two years.
Over the course of fiscal 2024, Allbirds closed 14 U.S. stores, followed by nine in the first half of 2025. Now the retailer plans to shutter the remaining roughly 20 locations, save two outlet stores and two brand-run stores in London. The rest of Allbirds’ international fleet was either closed or transitioned to a distributor model starting in 2023.
At press time, Allbirds’ website listed more than 20 international stores (largely distributor-run), two U.S. outlet stores, in California and Massachusetts, and one location in Atlanta.
All of the store closures have eaten into Allbirds’ sales over the years, as has its transition to a distributor model, though both actions are aimed at making the business more profitable in the long term. Revenue in its most recent quarter fell 23% year over year, while net loss narrowed slightly to $20 million, though Vernachio touted the success of new products and said customers were responding well to them.
In addition to launching new styles, Allbirds has spent the last two years revamping some of its older models with upgraded features.
