These stores are disappearing from the South Florida retail scene. Will you miss them?

Few businesses stick around forever.

Through the years in South Florida, we have seen the demise of Burdines and Blockbuster. And we have seen Sears and Kmart all but disappear.

Now we are seeing more stores vanishing, including Big Lots, Party City, Joann, and some Winn-Dixie locations.

Here’s a rundown:

PARTY CITY

Party City — the ubiquitous chain that sells costumes, balloons and decorations — filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, liquidated its stores and planned to shutter all 750 stores nationwide by the end of February. The retail chain had more than 60 stores in Florida, 20 of them in South Florida.

BIG LOTS

Big Lots says it’s closing all stores after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The discount chain is shutting down about 400 stores across the country, including six in South Florida. Big Lots, a discount home good retailer founded in Ohio in 1967 as Consolidated Stores, began “going out of business” sales in December 2024 with plans to exit stage left at the end of March. Over the summer, Big lots announced the chain was closing 11 stores in Florida, nearly a third of the 40 it had planned to shutter nationwide in 2024, according to the Ohio-based company’s filing to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The South Florida list of shutdowns earlier in 2024 included locations in Hallandale Beach, Miami Lakes and Hollywood. But a deal with a company taking over the assets of the company could lead to the reopening of some of the stores across the country.

WINN-DIXIE

Aldi is closing more than 200 Winn-Dixie and Harveys stores and converting them over a three-year period. A new ownership company was formed to keep about 170 other stories operating under the Winn-Dixie brand. Some of the Winn-Dixie to Aldi conversions are in South Florida. They include:

▪ Aventura Winn-Dixie at 20417 Biscayne Blvd.

▪ Fort Lauderdale Winn-Dixie at 941 SW 24th St.

▪ Boynton Beach Winn-Dixie at 8855 Boynton Beach Blvd.

▪ Westlake Winn-Dixie at 5060 Seminole Pratt Whitney Rd. in Palm Beach County.

AMERICAN FREIGHT

Furniture store American Freight announced in 2024 that it was closing all 328 locations in the U.S., including 33 Florida stores, as a part of Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings by its parent company Franchise Group. The bankruptcy proceedings began on Nov. 3. All of the stores, including four in South Florida in Hialeah, Medley, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach, offered closing sales in store and on its website. Franchise Group’s other holdings, including The Vitamin Shoppe, Pet Supplies Plus and Buddy’s Home Furnishings, will stay in business.

JOANN

Joann, the place to buy fabric and quilting supplies, is disappearing. At first, the company announced it would close half of its stores, including all locations in South Florida. A few days later, the company said it would close all 800 of its stores across the country. That means the stores in Florida that survived the initial cut, will close as well. The company was sold and liquidation sales will continue for the next few weeks, according to Joann’s February update. Among the Joann locations on the to-close list: stores on North Kendall Drive in the Greenery Mall, Flagler Street at Flagler Park Plaza, and Cutler Bay’s Caribbean Boulevard in Miami-Dade. In Broward, locations on Hollywood Boulevard, South Federal Highway in Pompano Beach and the Margate store are also on the closing list.