Birthday Clubs That Closed With the Chain: 7 Rewards Programs That Died With Their Brands

Most birthday freebies die quietly. A terms page gets rewritten, the reward stops appearing, and nobody tells you.

But there is a second way a birthday club ends, and it is much more final: the company goes away. No terms page to rewrite, no customer service line to call, no reward sitting in an account you can still log into. You just stop getting the email, and years later you are still wondering whether you did something wrong.

You did not. Here is what actually happened to seven of them.

Last updated: August 2026

Why Your Reward Never Arrived

When a chain liquidates, the loyalty program is not wound down in any orderly way. It is a database on a server that stops being paid for. Points balances, tier status, and unredeemed birthday rewards evaporate with it - they are almost never treated as creditor claims in a bankruptcy, and they are almost never honored by whoever buys the brand name afterward.

That last part is the one that catches people. Buying a brand name is not the same as buying its loyalty program, and in nearly every case below the new owner started from zero.

The Retail Closures

Saks OFF 5TH - the most recent one

Saks OFF 5TH has permanently closed all of its stores. Rewards members had one of the better retail birthday perks: a reward typically worth $5 to $25 depending on tier, loaded at the start of the birthday month and redeemable online or in store until the month ended.

The program is dead and outstanding rewards cannot be redeemed. If you are holding one, there is nothing to do with it. Full details

Pier 1 Imports - liquidated in 2020

Pier 1 filed Chapter 11 on February 18, 2020, moved to liquidation that spring, and closed its remaining ~500 stores by October 2020. The store rewards program, birthday perk included, ended with them.

The Pier 1 name was later relaunched as an online-only retailer under different ownership. It is a different operation. Nothing from the old program carried over. Full details

Payless ShoeSource - gone since June 2019

Payless filed Chapter 11 in February 2019 - its second filing in two years - and closed the last of its North American stores in June 2019. Payless Rewards, and the birthday offer that came with it, went with the stores.

The name now exists as an online storefront that runs no loyalty or birthday program at all. There is nothing to sign up for. Full details

Justice - the stores closed, the label didn't

Slightly different shape. Ascena filed for Chapter 11 in July 2020 and sold Justice to Bluestar Alliance out of bankruptcy; every Justice store closed by early 2021. The tween birthday coupon was tied to those stores.

The name was relaunched online afterward, so unlike Payless and Pier 1 there may be something to join today - but nothing from the old store program transferred automatically. Check the current site before assuming your old account means anything.

The Restaurant Closures

Zoes Kitchen - the happy ending

The one case on this page where the birthday reward did not die. CAVA acquired Zoes Kitchen in 2018 and converted its restaurants one at a time. The final conversion opened on October 20, 2023, retiring the Zoes brand entirely - at its peak the chain had more than 260 locations.

If you had a Zoes birthday reward, its successor is CAVA, which runs its own birthday reward for rewards members. This is the exception that proves the rule: when there is a real corporate successor, the freebie usually survives in a new name. Full details

Sushirrito - the sushi burrito chain

The San Francisco-founded chain that popularized the sushi burrito has shut down. Rewards-app members got a free birthday sushirrito, worth roughly $12 to $14 - genuinely one of the better fast-casual birthday rewards while it lasted.

No app, no reward, no successor. Full details

Lyfe Kitchen - the $10 credit

The California health-focused fast-casual chain wound down as its unit count dwindled. Lyfe Kitchen Rewards members received a $10 birthday credit redeemable on any menu item.

A $10 credit is high enough that it keeps circulating on freebie lists years after it stopped being real. It is not real. Full details

Mr. Holmes Bakehouse - the cruffin bakery

Not a chain closure so much as a beloved local one. The San Francisco Tenderloin bakery famous for its cruffins filed Chapter 7 and closed permanently in early 2024, shutting both its San Francisco and Los Angeles locations. The app loyalty program and its birthday reward went with them. Full details

What This Means for Your Sign-Ups

Three practical takeaways:

1. A birthday club is only as durable as the company. If a chain is closing locations near you or you are seeing bankruptcy headlines, do not count on next year's reward. Redeem what you have.
2. Check for a successor before you give up. Zoes to CAVA is the pattern worth looking for. When a healthy company acquires a brand, the birthday reward usually continues under the new name. When a licensing company buys the name out of liquidation, it almost never does.
3. Never let a birthday reward sit unredeemed. Most expire at the end of your birthday month anyway, and a company in trouble is exactly the situation where "I'll use it next time" turns into losing it.

FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)

Why didn't I get my Saks OFF 5TH birthday reward? Because Saks OFF 5TH has permanently closed all of its stores. The rewards program is no longer active and outstanding rewards cannot be redeemed.

Can I still use loyalty points from a chain that closed? Almost never. When a retailer liquidates, points and unredeemed rewards generally cease to exist. They are rarely treated as claims in the bankruptcy and rarely honored by whoever buys the brand name.

If a brand relaunches online, does my old birthday reward come back? No. Payless and Pier 1 both had their names relaunched by new owners, and neither carried over the old loyalty program. A new owner buying a trademark is not buying your account.

What happened to the Zoes Kitchen birthday reward? It effectively became CAVA's. CAVA acquired Zoes in 2018 and finished converting the restaurants on October 20, 2023. Join CAVA instead.

Why do these still show up on birthday freebie lists? Because most freebie roundups are never revisited after they are published. A list written in 2018 will still promise you a Pier 1 birthday reward in 2026.

How do you decide a brand is dead? We check first-party sources - the company's own site and terms, plus bankruptcy and closure reporting - and keep the page published with the date and what happened, rather than deleting it. These brands stay out of the main directory but keep their pages so the question has an answer.

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