Lessons from the rises and falls of well-known brands.

We examine well-known brands the way we examine yours: symptoms, diagnosis, treatment. Each case file looks at one brand on one date, with the numbers, the evidence and a downloadable report. Every file is written as of its date and is not updated afterwards.

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All case files

Every case file, newest first.

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Rite Aid Brand Check-up: Two Bankruptcies in Under Two Years

Our check-up on Rite Aid: a distant third to CVS and Walgreens, opioid claims, an FTC facial-recognition ban, two Chapter 11 filings and a pharmacy sell-off.
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Tesla Brand Check-up: When the Founder Becomes the Brand

Tesla's Q1 2025 deliveries fell 13%, its EU registrations fell 46% as the EV market grew, and its reputation rank slid to 95th. A check-up on founder risk.
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23andMe Brand Check-up: When Trust Is the Product

We review 23andMe after its March 2025 Chapter 11 filing: a test most people buy once, a breach that reached 6.9 million people, and a brand that lost trust.
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Forever 21 Brand Check-up: A Price Promise It Could Not Keep

Forever 21's U.S. operator filed Chapter 11 on March 16, 2025, with $1.58 billion in debt. We diagnose the price, store and partnership mistakes behind it.
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BlackBerry Brand Check-up: The Name Outlived the Phone

BlackBerry went from 19.9% of smartphone sales in 2009 to 0.0% in late 2016. Our check-up asks what the name means now that QNX and security carry it.
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Joann Brand Check-up: Fixing the Debt, Not the Shelves

Joann cut its debt in a 2024 bankruptcy but kept every store and could not keep shelves full. Our check-up on the craft chain as it heads into liquidation.
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Zellers Brand Check-up: Nostalgia Without a Front Door

Zellers came back in 2023 inside Hudson's Bay stores. A Leger poll found 56% of Canadians knew, but only 9% had shopped or browsed. Our diagnosis, January 2025.
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Party City Brand Check-up: The Party Moved to Other Aisles

Party City is closing nearly 700 stores after a second Chapter 11. We diagnose the debt, rivals, helium shortage and fading Halloween behind the collapse.
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Jaguar Brand Check-up: The Rebrand That Came Before the Car

Jaguar's Copy Nothing rebrand, the Type 00 concept and the end of new U.K. sales, checked against JLR volume data and the Tata Motors share price on Dec. 3.
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Sears Brand Check-up: Harvested for Cash, Starved of Stores

Sears Holdings went from $53.0 billion in revenue to Chapter 11 in 2018. We trace the asset sales, thin store investment and what the brand lost on the way.
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Big Lots Brand Check-up: The Bargain Promise It Let Slip

Big Lots filed for Chapter 11 on Sept. 9, 2024, after years of falling sales. We diagnose how it drifted from bargains and what growing companies can learn.
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Tupperware Brand Check-up: When the Parties Stopped

Tupperware filed for Chapter 11 in September 2024. We trace how a famous brand stayed tied to a shrinking party sales force while its sales fell by half.
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