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I spent a lot of time fantasizing about the brick-and-mortar bakery I’d open one day.

“Having the brick-and-mortar really does kind of put your back against a wall in a way that you have to kind of get it together,” said Mansour, who over time stepped into the role of executive director despite the group’s original nonhierarchical vision.

If Authentic Brands Group licenses Forever 21’s brand to a new operator, the iconic name could carry on, Wimer said, but the brick-and-mortar locations would probably not survive.

Plus, for more than a decade, she’s worked in the brick-and-mortar retail industry, at companies like Lululemon and her current job at Fleet Feet.

While the fate of its approximately 350 brick-and-mortar stores is still unclear—they will most likely shutter, but could live on in some kind of digital space, competing with Shein, whose existence is surely one reason for the brand’s demise—it seems safe to say that the days of Forever 21 being a staple of every trip to the mall are behind us.