Grunt Style, the San Antonio-based retailer that markets clothing to veterans and military enthusiasts, is closing stores across the country, including the one at its own headquarters, according to reporting by the San Antonio Report.
The nonprofit newsroom reported Wednesday that the company has told Texas officials it will lay off all 19 retail employees at its store at 900 Broadway in downtown San Antonio by Nov. 30.
The disclosure came in a letter to the Texas Workforce Commission filed under the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, the 1988 law that requires employers with 100 or more full-time workers to give the state notice. Eleven of the 19 affected workers are full-time.
The Broadway address is more than a storefront. It also houses Grunt Style’s corporate headquarters, where 49 people worked in total.
That leaves 30 employees whose jobs are not covered by the notice, and the company has not said what happens to them.
In the letter, human resources manager Kelly Wisley wrote that the retail site is expected to close entirely, but that “no final determination has been made” about whether the headquarters will keep operating. Wisley did not respond to the San Antonio Report’s requests for comment.
The San Antonio Report describes store closures and layoffs, not a bankruptcy filing or a decision to dissolve the company, and it does not report how many stores are closing nationwide or how many jobs are being cut in total.
What it does establish is the geographic spread: Grunt Style filed WARN notices in Texas for stores in San Antonio and El Paso, and closures or notices have also been announced for locations in Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and Missouri.
It is the second round of cuts in as many years. Last year the company laid off 100 workers at its clothing production facility outside Chicago, the outlet reported.
Grunt Style was founded in 2009 by veteran Daniel Alarik, who was ousted from the company in 2020 and sued it the same year.
The brand has a reputation for marketing to conservative and right-wing customers, and it drew added attention after rioters who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 wore its clothing.
The company also has a nonprofit arm, the Grunt Style Foundation, which raises money, runs programs for veterans and does legislative advocacy, and which keeps offices at the Broadway location. Foundation officials did not respond to emailed requests for comment, the San Antonio Report said.
