Aug. 16, 2018 By Christian Murray

Two large retail stores are closing on Steinway Street.

Fallas, the discount store located at 31-08 Steinway, is expected to be gone by the end of October, while Gap Kids, located next door, is in the process of being wound down and transitioned into a Banana Republic Factory store.

Fallas is being shut down stemming from its parent company, National Stores, filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last week. The company is closing 74 Fallas stores across 18 states, including its Astoria location as well as two other stores in Queens. Those stores are in Rosedale and Jamaica.

National Stores, which aims to return to financial health, currently operates 344 stores under the names Conway’s, Fallas and Factory 2-U. The company is in the process of closing stores under the Fallas brand.

National Stores is the latest casualty of the bankruptcy wave sweeping the U.S. retail sector, as shoppers increasingly turn to the internet for their purchases. Recent bankruptcies include Toys R Us and Nine West.

Meanwhile, Gap Kids, located at 31-02 Steinway St., is in the process of closing. The store, however, will be replaced by Banana Republic Factory, which is a division of Gap Inc.

Gap is in the process of restructuring its brands. For instance, the company closed its Gap location at 31-48 Steinway St. on May 15 and is in the process of remodeling the space and converting it into a Gap Factory store.