The Aeropostale Factory Store at Independence Mall is closing, according to signs displayed in the store’s windows Wednesday.

Aeropostale, an apparel and accessories brand aimed mainly at teen consumers, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in May but was recently saved from a complete asset sale, according to news reports and a company release, in part because a Manhattan bankruptcy judge last week approved the $243 million purchase of Aeropostale by Authentic Brand Group (ABG), Simon Property Group (SPG) and General Growth Properties (GGP).

The purchase helped save 229 stores, while last-minute deals with mall operators saved another 171, according to a New York Post article.
 
“The brand will continue to be available in over 700 retail doors around the world; more than 400 stores in the U.S. and Canada and approximately 300 doors across Latin America, Europe, the Middle East and Southeast Asia,” a company news release said.

The company release was optimistic about the brand’s future.

“Through ABG’s proven know-how in brand building and licensing, combined with the expertise of retail real estate specialists, GGP and SPG, there is now a strong foundation in place for long term performance and growth,” the release said.

David Simon, chairman and CEO of Simon Property Group, said in the release that the consortium created by AGB, SPG and GGP “has saved thousands of jobs and preserved a legendary American brand.”
 
But such did not seem to be the case for the Aeropostale Factory Store in Independence Mall on Wednesday, where signs announced in large letters that “Everything Must Go.”

An employee at the Wilmington store said workers there had no information about when the store would close and had no comment to make about the closing.

Efforts to reach an Aeropostale representative for more details about the local factory store location were not immediately successful Wednesday, and a spokeswoman for the company that operates the mall, Madison Marquette, said in an email that the company does not comment on store closings.

The Starbucks location inside the mall was shuttered this summer and remained vacant Wednesday, and a long-time mall tenant, Fleishman's Fine Clothiers, also closed this year.

Some local commercial real estate brokers say the prime real estate on which Independence Mall is located at 3500 Oleander Drive could be better suited for a mixed-use development like Mayfaire.

Foreclosure proceedings on part of the mall, opened in 1979 and renovated in 2001, began in 2014 after Centro Independence LLC, owner of nearly 500,000 square feet of the property including the JC Penney wing, defaulted on a $110 million J.P. Morgan loan.

A foreclosure sale date in August, the ninth new date since proceedings started, was expected to be rescheduled to October, according to Andrew McVey, substitute trustee and an attorney with Wilmington law firm Murchison, Taylor & Gibson. No exact date had been announced as of Wednesday afternoon.