Cato Fashions, the affordable women's clothing chain headquartered on Denmark Road in Charlotte's 28273 ZIP code near Ballantyne, will close 120 stores nationwide before the end of its fiscal year on Sept. 30.

The company announced the closures Sept. 18 but has not released a list of which stores will shut down, as first reported by the Charlotte Observer. That leaves employees and shoppers at all 1,057 Cato locations across 31 states waiting.

North Carolina has 81 Cato stores. Charlotte has two retail locations: Eastway Crossing at 3124 Eastway Drive and University Pointe at 5700 University Pointe Blvd., according to the company's store locator. Neither is in Ballantyne. The nearest stores to the Ballantyne area are in Indian Trail and Concord.

The 120 closures represent more than 10% of Cato's total store count.

John Cato, the company's chairman, president and CEO, said in a press release that the company does not expect the struggling stores to recover. He blamed the current economic environment and negative pressure on customers' discretionary income, saying the company is closing more stores than expected this year but expects the move to improve operating results in fiscal 2027 and beyond.

In an Aug. 20 earnings release, the company pointed to persistent inflation, higher fuel prices and elevated interest rates as forces cutting into what customers can spend on clothing. It said it expects that pressure to continue.

Cato identified the 120 stores through a review of profit margins during its third and fourth fiscal quarters. The company annually reviews roughly one-third of its locations to decide whether to exercise lease options or negotiate extensions based on performance.

The pace of closures has accelerated. Cato shut 48 stores in 2025, according to the Charlotte Observer. Eight more closed during the fiscal second quarter ending Aug. 31, the Observer reported. The company estimates the closure process for the 120 stores will cost between $1 million and $1.3 million, covering signage and fixture removal and shipping store systems back to corporate offices.

Founded in Charlotte in 1946, Cato operates three retail brands: Cato, Versona and It's Fashion. The company's fiscal year ends Sept. 30, two days from the date of this report, and no timeline has been announced for when the full list of closing locations will be made public.