A few months ago, I went into a popular tuxedo rental chain to rent a tux for a wedding. I told the clerk what I needed, and the initial jacket he brought out fit, but would not button.
He then proceeded to tell me that the line I was looking at was not available in a larger size, and that I would need a similar jacket from the retailer’s “husky” line.
Yes, he said “husky,” although the line’s actual name, which he should have used, is “executive fit.” Although he corrected himself after I said, “That can’t possibly be the correct term,” the damage was already done.
I had gone into the store feeling good about having lost a bunch of weight on a GLP-1 drug, and actually felt that I could have made the non-husky jacket work, since I wasn’t going to button it anyway. But comments like the one made by my young, skinny salesperson may explain why some Americans prefer the anonymity of shopping online.
That shift toward online shopping has also affected specialty retailers such as Torrid, which has closed nearly 200 stores.
“Digital continues to be our customers’ preferred channel, now approaching 70% of total demand. We’re accelerating our transformation to a more digitally-led business, which includes optimizing our retail footprint,” CEO Lisa Harper said during the chain’s first-quarter earnings release.
Now, Destination Xl, a similar chain that sells to “big and tall” men, has decided to close a few stores and examine its entire portfolio of retail locations.
Destination XL closing stores, examines fleet
CFO Peter Stratton made it clear during the chain’s second-quarter earnings call that the company was taking a deep look at its stores.
“We continue to look very carefully at SG&A across the organization, reducing corporate expenses where appropriate and rationalizing our store base over the next several years as leases expire or kickout rights become available. The punchline here is we need to improve our return on assets. Targeting stores that have a high probability of transferring volume to another store allows us to make the total store portfolio more productive,” he said.
That will likely lead to the chain stepping up its pace of shutting down some of its retail locations.
“In certain markets, we believe there are opportunities to rationalize high occupancy stores and redirect customers to other stores in the market. The store rationalization work will have limited impact in 2026, but it is expected to reduce occupancy and store operating costs beginning in 2027 and beyond,” he added.
This won’t happen quickly, but it will impact Destination XL’s bottom line.
“This is a multiyear project that should improve sales per square foot and 4-wall profit over time,” Stratton said.
The company closed three stores in 2026 and has a “few dozen” leases coming up in 2027.
That gives DXL dozens of locations to evaluate as it decides which stores still justify their costs.
“Now those are not all closing. We are going to be looking at those on a case-by-case basis, and we’ll be developing those plans really over the next 6 months to figure out how many more we’ll be closing,” the CFO said.
Shutterstock
Destination Xl serves a need
David Lane, who’s 5-foot-10, with a 52-inch chest and 48-inch waist, told The Wall Street Journal that he shops online because traditional retailers don’t stock his size.
“I’ve been a big guy my whole life,” said Lane. “At most stores, it’s impossible to find items that fit. I always have to size up by two or three sizes to get the chest to fit, and when I get to that, it’s for a guy who’s 6-foot-4, so I’ll end up with extra [fabric] in the sleeve, almost guaranteed,” he said.
Peter Nguyen, a New York City stylist, told The Journal that many men struggle to find their sizes in stores.
“Probably about 10% of my clients can shop off the rack and have no issues,” he said.
Even a store like Destination XL, dedicated to men who need larger sizes, can offer an expanded selection online.
Destination XL saw its in-store comparable sales fall 4.3% in Q2, while its online business, which it calls “direct,” declined just 1.6%.
“In direct, we saw improvement in conversion driven by enhancements to the app and overall site experience, and we also benefited from solid performance in clearance product, primarily through the direct channel,” Stratton shared.
“More broadly, the direct business generated demand through paid search, paid social and programmatic marketing, while ongoing improvements in app performance, site experience and speed supported better conversion.”
Related: Another cafe brand files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
GLP-1 drugs create another problem for big-and-tall retailers
I’m not the only shopper whose clothing needs have changed after taking a GLP-1 drug.
RTM Nexus CEO Dominick Miserandino sees the weight-loss drugs as a drag on Destination XL’s prospects.
“DXL closing stores is the direct result of a category-specific headache: Ozempic.
When your entire business model is built on big-and-tall sizing, mass adoption of GLP-1 weight-loss drugs puts your core customer base in a purchasing holding pattern,” he told TheStreet.
There are signs that the shift is already affecting apparel retailers.
“Size curves, long treated as a stable planning input, are beginning to drift. Not dramatically, but consistently. Smaller sizes are gaining share,” according to Impact Analytics’ The $5B Size Curve Shift: How GLP-1 Is Rewriting Retail Demand.
Retailers, the report noted, have adjusted to sizing shifts in the past, but this one has been moving quickly.
“The significance for retail lies in the speed of change. Planning systems are designed around seasonal cycles and gradual demographic evolution. GLP-1 adoption compresses that timeline. Customers can move between size bands within a single planning horizon, while inventory commitments are still anchored to historical distributions,” the study shared.
