Express Clothing Files Bankruptcy- These Texas Stores Could Close Soon

Express Clothing, that perennial mall store, has filed for bankruptcy. In court documents, some stores in Texas are listed as potential sacrificial lambs. However, a potential buy-out could save the stores after all.

Five Texas stores are listed on the chopping block:

La Palmera in Corpus Christi

Dallas Galleria

Rolling Oaks in San Antonio

Post Oak in College Station

Hillside Village in Cedar Hill

Nearly 100 stores across the country could close, leaving some Express fans the only option to buy online.

The brand's stumbling has been attributed to the "casualization" of business fashion, noncompetitive prices, and "bland" styles. But I think it goes even deeper than that.

I'm a millennial, e.g. Express Clothing's target audience, at least once upon a time. And I'll be honest- Express Clothing never resonated with me.  I knew I was supposed to like it-it was a cool, chic-looking mall store. So I kept giving it chances, for years.

But anytime I did find a piece of clothing that wasn't completely boring (rare), it never fit my body. Even when I was a tiny 120 pounds, the tailoring of Express's clothes fought against my curves. It was an awkward fit, every time.

Eventually, I gave up on the store. Perhaps now they have clothes tailored to fit the non-willowy, but why would I bother to look? It's pricey, it's basic, and as a Millennial Adult™ I've already established my clothing buying habits with stores that have bothered to carry styles that fit my body type.

Express will survive this bankruptcy, and perhaps they will take this as an opportunity to diversify the brand into more interesting (and better fitting for some) styles. Or they can nestle into their niche of business-not-so-casual. Either way, they should probably fix their price points, because there's another mall store nearby that is much, much more affordable.