Women’s activewear brand to close stores

Lucy Activewear plans to shutter its retail store operation, and merge with a sister brand.



Lucy, which is owned by VF Corp., will merge with The North Face, also owned by VF.



Lucy was founded online in 1999 and opened its first store in 2002. It was one of the early entrants in what has become known as the athleisure market. Over the past few years, the sector has exploded and Lucy’s has seen increased competition from the likes of Lululemon and Athleta to such newcomers as Tory Burch Sport and Fabletics.



Lucy’s 44 stores are expected to close by the end of 2017 or very early 2018, with the exact dates based on leases, according to a report by KGW.