If you shopped for women’s clothing at a Draper’s & Damon’s store, you probably heard the news: the stores are gone. But is Draper’s & Damon’s really going out of business, or just going out of the *store* business? There’s more to the story, and it says a lot about where retail is headed right now.
A Little Background: Draper’s & Damon’s Then and Now
Draper’s & Damon’s has been around for a long time—since 1927. It started as a small shop providing clothing and accessories to older women, especially those looking for comfort and classic style. Over the years, it grew into a chain, especially on the West Coast, with a loyal following.
The company’s headquarters has moved along with its business model. Right now, its main office is in Irvine, California. Draper’s & Damon’s stuck around for almost a century, mostly by focusing on quality and a kind of customer nobody else really targeted: women over 50 who wanted stylish but comfortable clothes.
When and Why Did the Stores Close?
If you walked through a suburban strip mall in Florida or Texas last year, you might have seen a Draper’s & Damon’s sign in the window: “STORE CLOSING—Everything Must Go!” That wasn’t a single location shutting down. At the same time, management announced the closure of *all* their physical stores. It wasn’t a small change. Stores in Arizona, California, Texas, and Florida all joined in with those “going out of business” banners and final clearance sales.
Some of these stores had been around for decades and were local fixtures. At the time, longtime customers hurried in for one last visit. But when the sale was over, they turned off the lights.
So, Did Draper’s & Damon’s Really Go Out of Business? Not Exactly
Here’s where the details matter. While Draper’s & Damon’s closed every brick-and-mortar shop, they *didn’t* just disappear like some other retail chains have. Management made it clear pretty early on: the brand wasn’t shutting down completely. Instead, they would keep selling through their website and classic catalogs—the big paper ones that land in your mailbox.
That decision came down in 2020. Employees—and a lot of regular customers—started talking about it online. Some, who worked for the stores, said the company told them directly: no new in-person locations would be opening in the future. From now on, Draper’s & Damon’s would only sell online and by mail.
Inside the Shift: Why Close Stores but Keep Catalogs and Online Sales?
Retail has been changing for a while, but the last few years have sped things up. Shoppers aren’t going to malls like they used to. Some older customers still prefer calling in or ordering by mail, but a lot more are simply heading online. For Draper’s & Damon’s, keeping up meant figuring out where their customers wanted to shop—and making that shift permanent.
You can probably guess a big reason for closing the brick-and-mortar stores: cost. Operating physical retail stores is expensive. Rent, electricity, staffing, and inventory all add up. When fewer people are shopping in-person, those stores become harder and harder to justify—especially if your core shoppers are willing to buy through a catalog or website.
Another factor was simply following the trend. A lot of other mid-size women’s chains have moved away from physical stores, too. We’ve seen names like Chico’s, Christopher & Banks, and others close stores, either partially or entirely, for similar reasons.
For Draper’s & Damon’s, online and mail-order sales were always a safety net. Their customer base grew up with the brand’s catalogs, so making that the *main* way to shop was less scary than for chains that relied only on walk-in traffic.
How the Change Affects Shoppers and Staff
What does all this mean if you’re one of their regular shoppers? It’s more like moving rooms than moving houses. The doors may be locked at the old strip-mall location, but you can still order the same styles you’re used to—just in a different way. The company kept its catalog, which for some customers is still their favorite way to shop. For others, there’s the company’s website, which was spruced up around the store closures and now acts as the main “storefront.”
Maybe you like to flip through pages and call in your order, or you’re comfortable clicking through online categories. Either way, you’re still covered.
But for Draper’s & Damon’s employees, things changed in a bigger way. Some longtime store managers and associates lost their jobs. Workers at the main office or in fulfillment—shipping, customer service, and catalog production—may have kept their positions, but every store closure meant lost retail jobs locally. Some staff shared their disappointment online, while others talked about the hope that the brand would live on, at least in some way.
Behind the Decision: Following the Numbers and Following the Crowd
To outsiders, the move might seem abrupt, but Draper’s & Damon’s didn’t just wake up one day and shut the doors. Like other clothing chains, they’d watched foot traffic slow and sales move online year after year. Throw in the pandemic and the trend only sped up.
Lots of familiar names went through a similar shakeup. Take JCPenney, Lord & Taylor, or Stein Mart—each has pulled back, shut stores, or gone online-only, hoping their brands would mean something even when the store doors closed for good. Even companies outside of women’s clothing, like electronics or sporting goods retailers, have gone this way. Basically, if running a store gets too pricey, and the customers are willing to shop elsewhere, moving online just makes more sense.
What Shopping with Draper’s & Damon’s Looks Like Now
For shoppers who found comfort and community in the old stores, the transition was probably bittersweet. Some people liked getting advice from a friendly sales associate or seeing how a new dress fit in the changing room before buying. That’s obviously gone. Instead,, customers rely on customer service by phone, email, or live chat for help with sizes, exchanges, and orders.
The company’s products haven’t changed much. You’ll still find the mix of dresses, casualwear, jackets, accessories, and shoes aimed at an older crowd. Their catalogs still come in the mail, offering full-color pages of seasonal picks. Most orders now come through their website, though—making up the bulk of sales. Shipping may take a few days, but for loyal longtime shoppers, it’s a familiar experience.
For new customers, the shift might not seem as dramatic. Shopping online isn’t anything unusual. If you’re curious about business trends like this, sites like SeraBusiness often break down what drives companies to drop stores in favor of digital sales.
How Draper’s & Damon’s Compares to Other “Storeless” Retailers
You’re not imagining it—Draper’s & Damon’s isn’t the only brand making a shift like this. Other fashion retailers with aging customer bases have made similar moves. Even department stores that stuck around for generations have pivoted to online sales or shut down entirely. It’s not just about e-commerce growing, but about changes in demographics, local shopping patterns, and—let’s be honest—a whole new set of expectations about convenience.
Some brands make a huge show out of their “digital transformation.” Others, like Draper’s & Damon’s, just quietly lock the doors and keep the phones and web orders coming. Catalogs get redesigned. The web team gets busier. The operation gets smaller but maybe more efficient too.
So, Will Draper’s & Damon’s Stick Around as an Online Brand?
It looks that way. Their website is active. Catalogs are still arriving in mailboxes. Orders are being shipped out. For Draper’s & Damon’s, the big question was whether longtime shoppers would follow them from the familiar store aisles into the digital or mail-order space. So far, enough customers have stuck around to keep the business going.
In a way, Draper’s & Damon’s is using the playbook of brands like Lands’ End or L.L. Bean, which have been doing direct-to-customer sales for decades. Except now, the stakes are a little higher because there are more competitors and higher expectations for shipping speed and customer service. The advantage is that the catalog customer—often older, loyal, and less price-driven—can be easier to serve than shoppers who chase the next fast-fashion trend on TikTok.
Looking Toward the Future
Nobody really knows if Draper’s & Damon’s will look the same five or ten years from now. Retail is unpredictable. But for the moment, the company seems to have found a way to keep going without the huge costs and risks that come with physical stores.
The customers who loved shopping there might miss stopping by after coffee with a friend. For now, though, they can still place an order—by phone, online, or by mail—and wait for that familiar box to show up on the porch.
For Draper’s & Damon’s, it’s a quieter kind of survival. No big headlines, just a shift in how you get your clothes. For customers, the loss of local stores stings, but the comfort of the brand is still just a click or a phone call away.