Dive Brief:

• Simply Fashion Stores Ltd., a discount women’s apparel chain that caters to women of color and women in urban areas, Thursday filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Miami.

• The family-run company operates some 250 stores nationwide in 25 states and in cities like  Detroit, Miami, Chicago, Nashville, Baltimore, and Dallas. The chain has picked up many of its store leases through the bankruptcy proceedings of other retailers.

• Last August, for example, the company bought out the bankrupt Dots chain and reopened some stores with the aim of reviving that business.

Dive Insight:

Simply Fashion was hit pretty hard by the 2009 recession and by 2012 was struggling. The retailer closed 120 stores from 2012 to 2014, but that may have been too little too late.

The retailer now faces intense competition from general-merchandise stores like Target and Wal-Mart, which are increasingly moving into urban areas and are emerging from their own recession-era woes flexing their competitive muscles. Simply Fashion’s owners are working on loaning the company funds during bankruptcy proceedings, but the plan so far is to liquidate.