Fashion retailer Forever 21 has officially filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection in the U.S. in an effort to restructure business. This news comes just one month after the first reports of the company's troubles surfaced.

Shortly following the filing in the U.S., Forever XXI ULC (Forever 21 Canada) filed for, and was granted protection under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act by the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. This filing will see a full liquidation and the closure of all 44 Forever 21 store locations across Canada.

Bradley Sell, Chief Financial Officer of Forever 21 Canada said in a statement, "After considering numerous options, we have made the difficult decision to discontinue operations in Canada. While this decision was not easy to make, we believe it is the right one for Forever 21 Canada. We had hoped for a different outcome, but after years of poor performance and challenges set forth by the headwinds facing the retail industry today, our Canadian operations are simply no longer economically viable."

Forever 21 currently employs approximately 2,000 people across Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia. The company plans to keep their stores open during the liquidation process, currently there are no exact closure dates for each store, however they are all expected to close by the end of 2019.

Gift cards are no longer being sold in from Canadian stores as of September 30, 2019, and if you've currently got a gift card, you will have until October 15, 2019 to use it at a Canadian location.

If you plan on shopping or making any returns, Forever 21 Canada says it will honour existing return and exchange policies through October 15, 2019 on all items purchased on or before October 7.

Currently, the exact start date of the liquidation sales is unknown, but expect them to start soon, and expect all items to be final sale.