Weeks after announcing plans to close its doors for good, Army & Navy stores reopened Thursday for one final liquidation sale.
The discount retailer had closed stores “temporarily” in March due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.
![Click to play video: 'Army & Navy to close permanently amid COVID-19 pandemic'](https://i1.wp.com/media.globalnews.ca/videostatic/news/1j2nzko0r5-tziyzmgga7/1800_ARMY_AND_NAVY_CLOS_BC10AZUS.jpg?w=1040&quality=70&strip=all)
Last month, president and CEO Jacqui Cohen announced that Army & Navy would close permanently after 101 years in business.
Cohen says brick-and-mortar shops like hers were already facing serious challenges from online retailers like Amazon, and the COVID-19 pandemic proved to be the final straw.
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“It just became insurmountable, really, sitting with all the spring and summer goods and no sales and not knowing when it would end,” she said.
![Click to play video: 'Squire Barnes on the 100th anniversary of the Army & Navy stores'](https://i0.wp.com/media.globalnews.ca/videostatic/206/411/WEB_BARNES_848x480_1515553859792.jpg?w=1040&quality=70&strip=all)
The company has moved inventory from its Langley and Vancouver stores to its New Westminster location for one final sale, she said, expected to run for about six weeks. A similar sale is taking place at its Calgary location.
The closure of Army & Navy will mark the end of an era in Vancouver’s retail sector.
The company was founded in 1919 by Samuel Cohen, who parlayed a thriving trade in post-war military surplus into a discount department store chain.
![Click to play video: '‘Sorry to see it go’: Calgary department store closes permanently because of COVID-19'](https://i0.wp.com/media.globalnews.ca/videostatic/news/eldd3pdavh-bqn08ef1j1/ARMY_&_NAVY_SALE_GIL_.png?w=1040&quality=70&strip=all)
It currently has locations in Vancouver, the home of its flagship East Hastings Street store, New Westminster, Langley, Calgary and Edmonton.
Along with its low prices, Army & Navy is particularly known for its annual shoe sales, which have historically drawn long lineups.
“The Army & Navy department store will always be in my heart and certainly in a lot of people’s hearts,” Cohen said.
— With files from Simon Little & Julia Foy
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