In September 2019, Stage Stores announced that they planned to completely exit the department store market, moving completely to the off-price model, converting all other stores brands to the Gordmans brand, and operating approximately 700 Gordmans stores by the third quarter of fiscal 2020 (August-October). But in May 2020, Stage Stores filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy due to the COVID-19 pandemic, even though the ongoing conversions had resulted in same-store sales rising more than 17% in the November-January fiscal quarter. All Gordmans stores were closed on September 27, 2020.