Roughly half of Eddie Bauer's US stores are housed at REIT-owned properties

Lifestyle retailer Eddie Bauer LLC, which operates the Eddie Bauer brand in the US and Canada, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Monday, Feb. 9, listing forty stores, 37 in the US and three in Canada, slated for initial closure. The retailer noted the rest of its stores will remain open and continue to serve customers while it solicits a sale of the business. However, should the retailer not find a suitable buyer, it will wind down the rest of its store operations.

Eddie Bauer reported 177 stores in total in its bankruptcy filing, with 153 of those being in the US and 24 in Canada. The bulk of the retailer's store footprint are housed at regional malls and outlet centers.

According to data compiled by S&P Global Market Intelligence, 73 of Eddie Bauer's reported 153 US stores are located at properties owned by publicly traded REITs, representing nearly 50% of Eddie Bauer's US storefronts.

On the Canada side, five stores are housed at REIT-owned properties.

The analysis includes US and Canadian equity real estate investment trusts that trade on the Nasdaq, NYSE, NYSE American, Toronto Stock Exchange or TSX Venture Exchange.

➤ Nearly half of Eddie Bauer's stores in the US are located at properties owned by publicly traded REITs, aggregating 476,978 square feet of gross area.

➤ REITs have less exposure to Eddie Bauer's stores in Canada, with roughly 20% of retailer's stores housed at a property owned by publicly traded REITs.

➤ Of the 40 Eddie Bauer stores initially slated for closure, 14 are at properties owned by publicly traded REITs.

➤ The number of large retail bankruptcies has accelerated in recent years. Since 2024, a total of 15 US retailers filed for bankruptcy, each with more than $1 billion in assets or liabilities.

Eddie Bauer's US stores

Eddie Bauer reported 153 US stores in its recent bankruptcy filing, of which 73 were identified by S&P Global Market Intelligence being located at REIT-owned properties, totaling 476,978 square feet of gross area.

Simon Property Group Inc. has the largest exposure to Eddie Bauer stores, with 53 properties on the list aggregating 344,350 gross square feet leased to Eddie Bauer.

Outlet center-focused Tanger Inc. owns 14 properties housing an Eddie Bauer store in the US, grossing 96,942 square feet leased to the retailer.

Property totals for both Simon Property Group and Tanger include the Charlotte Premium Outlets, as each own 50% equity interest.

Five of the properties on Eddie Bauer's US store list were owned by CBL & Associates Properties Inc., with the Eddie Bauer stores totaling 30,913 gross square feet.

Additionally, S&P Global Market Intelligence identified one property each owned by Macerich Co. and Kite Realty Group Trust with an Eddie Bauer store.

Eddie Bauer's Canada stores

Publicly traded REITs have less exposure to Eddie Bauer's stores in Canada, with only five out of the 24 reported Canadian stores being housed at REIT-owned properties.

S&P Global Market Intelligence identified three properties owned by Primaris REIT on Eddie Bauer's Canadian store list, all in Ontario — Quinte Mall in Belleville, Lime Ridge Mall in Hamilton and Place D'Orleans Shopping Centre in Orléans.

The Tanger Outlets Cookstown and Tanger Outlets Ottawa were also both on Eddie Bauer's Canadian store list, which Tanger Inc. and RioCan REIT each own 50% equity interest in.

Initial store closings

Looking at the 40 Eddie Bauer stores initially slated for closure, 14 are housed at REIT-owned properties.

Nine of the stores on the initial closing list are housed at Simon Property Group-owned properties, the highest exposure of any publicly traded REIT.

Meanwhile, CBL & Associates Properties owned two properties with a closing Eddie Bauer store — Hamilton Place in Chattanooga, Tenn.; and Valley View Mall in Roanoke, Va.

The Eddie Bauer store at Macerich's West Acres, along with its store at Kite Realty's Southlake Town Square were also on the list of closing stores.

Lastly, the Eddie Bauer store at the Tanger Outlets Cookstown in Canada, owned by Tanger Inc. and RioCan REIT, was also on the retailer's initial closing list.

Retail bankruptcies

Eddie Bauer's bankruptcy filing marks the third retail bankruptcy filing tracked by S&P Global Market Intelligence in 2026.

S&P Global Market Intelligence's bankruptcy coverage is limited to public companies or private companies with public debt where either assets or liabilities at the time of the bankruptcy filing are greater than or equal to $2 million or to private companies where either assets or liabilities at the time of the bankruptcy filing are greater than or equal to $10 million.

The number of large retail bankruptcies in particular have accelerated in recent years. Since 2024, a total of 15 US retailers have filed for bankruptcy, each with more than $1 billion in assets or liabilities.

In January, Saks Global Enterprises LLC, the parent company of Saks Fifth Avenue LLC, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Five retail bankruptcies were filed in 2025 with more than $1 billion in assets or liabilities — Claire's Holdings LLC, At Home Group Inc., New Rite Aid LLC, F21 OpCo LLC and JOANN Inc. — while eight large retail bankruptcies with the same threshold were filed in 2024.

This article was published by S&P Global Market Intelligence and not by S&P Global Ratings, which is a separately managed division of S&P Global.