ST. LOUIS — Financial pressures and supplier issues led to the sudden shutdown of a national women’s boutique chain that has two St. Louis-area locations, part of a wave of retail closures in January.
Store closing sales have begun at all locations of Francesca’s, a women’s specialty chain that operates stores in malls and shopping centers across the country. Locally, the chain has two remaining locations, at the West County Center mall in Des Peres and at St. Louis Premium Outlets in Chesterfield. Overall, the chain has about 450 stores nationwide, with more than 3,400 employees.
The Houston-based chain’s lender issued it a notice of default Jan. 8 after expected capital fell through and other investors couldn’t be lined up, store officials said in a Jan. 14 letter to the Texas Workforce Commission. A timeline for the closure wasn’t given by the company…