Ngày 12 tháng 3 năm 2021
Hơn 5.800 cửa hàng ở Hoa Kỳ đă đóng vào năm ngoái 2020, theo báo cáo Coresight Research. Đại dịch là cơn lốc tàn phá khủng khiếp. Sau nhiều năm chứng kiến các nhà bán lẻ lớn hoán đổi chủ trong việc mua chuộc nợ, th́ trong 2020 khi người tiêu dùng chuyển từ các trung tâm mua sắm sang trực tuyến online đă đẩy một số thương hiệu mang tính biểu tượng nhất của Mỹ đến bờ vực.
Dưới đây là một số vụ phá sản lớn nhất cho đến nay.
Brooks Brothers
Thành lập: 1818
Nộp đơn xin phá sản: ngày 8 tháng 7 năm 2020
Thương hiệu từ nhiều thế hệ đă xác định cách ăn mặc của người Mỹ - đặc biệt là cách ăn mặc của nam giới người Mỹ - đă phải đối mặt với những cơn lốc mạnh khi mọi người ngày càng ăn mặc xuề x̣a đến văn pḥng và sau đó, với đại dịch, đă ngừng hoạt động hoàn toàn. Khi bước sang Chương 11, nhà bán lẻ quần áo may sẵn lâu đời nhất của quốc gia này đă chọn không mở lại 20% trong số khoảng 250 cửa hàng ở Hoa Kỳ đă ngừng hoạt động vào tháng 3 và dự kiến sẽ đóng cửa ba nhà máy ở Hoa Kỳ.
Trong một bài đăng trên trang Facebook của ḿnh, Brooks Brothers cho biết thủ tục phá sản sẽ giúp hăng tạo điều kiện thuận lợi cho quá tŕnh bán hàng đang diễn ra đồng thời quản lư “giai đoạn vô cùng thách thức đối với tất cả các ngành, đặc biệt là bán lẻ”. Một liên doanh của nhà phát triển trung tâm thương mại Simon Property Group và Authentic Brands Group, một công ty quản lư thương hiệu, đă giành được sự chấp thuận của ṭa án vào ngày 17 tháng 8 để mua Brooks Brothers với giá 325 triệu đô la. Các chủ sở hữu mới cam kết sẽ giữ cho ít nhất 125 cửa hàng của Brooks Brothers mở cửa.
Ascena Retail (Lane Bryant, Ann Taylor)
Thành lập: 1962 (với tên DressBarn)
Nộp đơn xin phá sản: ngày 23 tháng 7 năm 2020
Công ty đứng sau một số thương hiệu nổi tiếng nhất trong lĩnh vực thời trang phụ nữ đang phá bỏ khoảng 1.600 trong số khoảng 2.800 cửa hàng của ḿnh như một phần của quá tŕnh tái cơ cấu theo Chương 11 nhằm thanh toán khoản nợ khoảng 1 tỷ đô la. Theo một kế hoạch tái cơ cấu được đưa ra để được ṭa án xác nhận vào tháng 11, khoản nợ sẽ được chuyển thành vốn chủ sở hữu, chuyển giao quyền kiểm soát công ty cho những người cho vay.
CEC Entertainment (Chuck E. Cheese)
Thành lập: 1977
Nộp đơn xin phá sản: ngày 25 tháng 6 năm 2020
Chuỗi nhà hàng hơn 600 quán - có bánh pizza, tṛ chơi điện tử và (cho đến khi ngừng hoạt động vào năm ngoái) đặc biệt bị ảnh hưởng nặng nề bởi đại dịch. Công ty chứng kiến doanh thu giảm mạnh 90%, gia tăng áp lực đối phó với khoản nợ dài hạn gần 1 tỷ USD.
Cửa hàng Century 21
Thành lập: 1961
Nộp đơn xin phá sản: ngày 10 tháng 9 năm 2020
Cửa hàng tiên phong trong lĩnh vực bán lẻ giảm giá ở trung tâm thành phố Manhattan sẽ ngừng hoạt động và đóng cửa tất cả 13 địa điểm chủ yếu là thành phố New York tại khu vực này theo quy tŕnh của Chương 11.
GNC
Thành lập: 1935
Nộp đơn xin phá sản: ngày 23 tháng 6 năm 2020
Được mở cách đây 85 năm với tư cách là một cửa hàng thực phẩm chức năng cho sức khỏe ở Pittsburgh, nơi có đặc sản sữa chua đặc biệt kỳ lạ khi đó, Trung tâm Dinh dưỡng Tổng hợp đă phát triển thành một trung tâm thương mại bán vitamin, chất bổ sung và các sản phẩm làm đẹp và ăn kiêng, với khoảng 4.800 địa điểm bán lẻ. Công ty đă đóng cửa gần 1.300 cửa hàng ở Mỹ và Canada như một phần của quá tŕnh tái cấu trúc Chương 11.
Với sự suy giảm của các trung tâm thương mại, GNC đă đóng hàng trăm cửa hàng trong những năm gần đây nhưng vẫn mắc nợ nần chồng chất. GNC thoát khỏi t́nh trạng phá sản vào tháng 10 sau khi hoàn tất thương vụ bán trị giá 770 triệu USD cho cổ đông lớn nhất của ḿnh, Tập đoàn Dược phẩm Cáp Nhĩ Tân có trụ sở tại Trung Quốc.
Guitar Center
Thành lập: 1959 (với tên gọi Trung tâm Organ)
Nộp đơn xin phá sản: ngày 21 tháng 11 năm 2020
Nhà bán lẻ nhạc cụ lớn nhất của Mỹ đă nộp đơn yêu cầu tổ chức lại Chương 11 tám ngày sau khi công bố kế hoạch tái cơ cấu được hỗ trợ bởi các chủ nợ và các nhà đầu tư mới nhằm mục đích tách gần 800 triệu đô la từ khoản nợ 1,3 tỷ đô la. Công ty cho biết họ dự kiến sẽ kết thúc thủ tục phá sản vào cuối năm nay.
Belk
Kinh doanh: Cửa hàng bách hóa
Nộp hồ sơ: Ngày 24 tháng 2 năm 2021
Dean & Deluca
Kinh doanh: Tạp hóa cho người sành ăn
Nộp hồ sơ: ngày 2 tháng 4 năm 2020
Gold's Gym
Kinh doanh: Thể dục
Nộp hồ sơ: ngày 4 tháng 5 năm 2020
Hertz
Kinh doanh: Cho thuê ô tô
Nộp hồ sơ: 22/5/2020
Le Pain Quoprisen
Kinh doanh: Quán cà phê
Nộp hồ sơ: 27/5/2020
Lucky Brand
Kinh doanh: Denim
Nộp hồ sơ: 3/7/2020
Modell's Sporting Goods
Kinh doanh: Trang phục và thiết bị thể thao
Nộp hồ sơ: 11 tháng 3, 2020
Muji
Kinh doanh: Đồ gia dụng
Nộp hồ sơ: 10/7/2020
RTW Retailwinds (New York & Company)
Kinh doanh: Thời trang
Nộp hồ sơ: 13/7/2020
Stage Store (Gordmans)
Kinh doanh: Cửa hàng thời trang
Nộp hồ sơ: 10/5/2020
Tuesday Morning
Kinh doanh: Cửa hàng thời trang giảm giá
Nộp hồ sơ: 27/5/2020
J.C. Penney
Thành lập: 1902
Nộp đơn xin phá sản: ngày 15 tháng 5 năm 2020
J. Crew
Thành lập: 1947 (với tên Popular Merchandise Inc.)
Nộp đơn xin phá sản: ngày 4 tháng 5 năm 2020
Lord & Taylor
Thành lập: 1826
Nộp đơn xin phá sản: ngày 2 tháng 8 năm 2020
Neiman Marcus
Thành lập: 1907
Nộp đơn xin phá sản: ngày 7 tháng 5 năm 2020
Pier 1
Thành lập: 1962
Nộp đơn xin phá sản: ngày 17 tháng 2 năm 2020
Stein Mart
Thành lập: 1908
Nộp đơn xin phá sản: ngày 12 tháng 8 năm 2020
Tailored Brands (Men's Wearhouse, Jos. A. Bank)
Thành lập: 1973 (với tư cách là Men's Wearhouse)
Nộp đơn xin phá sản: ngày 2 tháng 8 năm 2020
ENGLISH:
March 12, 2021
More than 9,300 U.S. stores closed in 2019, and over 5,800 did the year before that, according to tracking by Coresight Research.
But the pandemic has been its most swiftly destructive horseman. Following years that saw major retailers swapping hands in debt-bingeing buyouts while consumers shifted from shopping malls to shopping online, the mass shutdown of 2020 pushed some of America’s most iconic brands to the brink.
The pandemic year has brought a parade of headline-making Chapter 11 filings, with historic department stores and apparel purveyors at the front. And while bankruptcy doesn’t necessarily mean out of business, don’t be surprised to see favorite locations shutter. Here are some of the biggest-name bankruptcies to date and what their reorganizations might bring.
Ascena Retail (Lane Bryant, Ann Taylor)
Founded: 1962 (as DressBarn)
Filed for bankruptcy: July 23, 2020
The company behind some of the best-known brands in women’s fashion is shedding some 1,600 of its approximately 2,800 stores as part of a Chapter 11 restructuring aimed at paring around $1 billion in debt. Under a reorganization plan set for court confirmation in November, the debt will be converted into equity, turning over control of the company to its lenders.
Ascena’s biggest names — plus-size bellwether Lane Bryant and premium brands Ann Taylor, Loft and Lou & Grey — are losing a “select number” of stores, according to a company statement. Two other brands — tween fashion chain Justice and plus-size line Catherines — have been sold as part of the bankruptcy process, with Catherines shifting fully to online sales.
The original bankruptcy filing came about seven months after Ascena liquidated the last stores in its original line, DressBarn, which now operates online only under new ownership.
Brooks Brothers
Founded: 1818
Filed for bankruptcy: July 8, 2020
The brand that for generations defined the American way of dressing for success — especially the American male executive way — faced strong headwinds as people increasingly dressed down for the office and then, with the pandemic, stopped going entirely. When it entered Chapter 11, the country’s oldest ready-to-wear clothing retailer had already opted not to reopen 20 percent of its roughly 250 U.S. stores that went dormant in March, and it’s expected to close its three U.S. factories.
In a post on its Facebook page, Brooks Brothers said bankruptcy proceedings would help it facilitate an ongoing sale process while managing “what has been an incredibly challenging period for all industries, especially retail.” A joint venture of mall developer Simon Property Group and Authentic Brands Group, a brand-management firm, won court approval Aug. 17 to buy Brooks Brothers for $325 million. The new owners pledged to keep at least 125 Brooks Brothers stores open.
CEC Entertainment (Chuck E. Cheese)
Founded: 1977
Filed for bankruptcy: June 25, 2020
The 600-plus restaurant chain — whose pizza, arcade games and (until it was retired last year) animatronic band fueled countless raucous kids’ parties — was especially hard-hit by a pandemic that halted dining out and large gatherings virtually overnight. The company saw revenue plummet by 90 percent, increasing pressure to deal with nearly $1 billion in long-term debt.
As of late October, CEC, which also owns the similarly themed Peter Piper Pizza chain, had reopened 346 of its 555 company-run outlets that were shuttered in spring by the pandemic. (Some locations are franchised and are not parties in the Chapter 11 process.) While the company says it plans to continue reopening restaurants “as it is safe to do so,” it has permanently closed about four dozen locations.
In the meantime, CEC secured court approval in October to raise $200 million in financing for business operations and costs associated with a reorganization plan the company says has been approved by a majority of creditors.
Century 21 Stores
Founded: 1961
Filed for bankruptcy: Sept. 10, 2020
The family-owned department store that pioneered off-price retail in downtown Manhattan will wind down operations and close all 13 of its mostly New York City–area locations under Chapter 11 proceedings. The company (which is not affiliated with the similarly named real estate firm) immediately commenced a chainwide going-out-of-business sale.
Billing itself as “New York’s Best Kept Secret,” Century 21 offered deep discounts on designer clothes and accessories. The original store, located in the shadow of the World Trade Center, survived the 9/11 terror attacks. But the company was unable to outlast the pandemic, blaming its demise on insurers declining to pay $175 million in claims Century 21 contends it is owed under business-interruption policies.
“Without receipt of the insurance proceeds, there was no viable alternative but to begin the shutdown,” the company says in an FAQ for customers. A lawsuit Century 21 filed against its insurance providers is being folded into the bankruptcy case.
GNC
Founded: 1935
Filed for bankruptcy: June 23, 2020
Opened 85 years ago as a Pittsburgh health food store that featured the then-exotic specialty of yogurt, what became General Nutrition Center grew into a mall-staple seller of vitamins, supplements, and beauty and dietary products, with some 4,800 retail locations. The company has closed nearly 1,300 stores in the U.S. and Canada as part of its Chapter 11 restructuring.
With the decline of malls, GNC had already closed several hundred stores in recent years but still accumulated heavy debt. In an FAQ list for customers, the company says efforts to refinance the debt and “position ourselves for long-term growth” were derailed by the pandemic. GNC exited bankruptcy in October after completing a $770 million sale to its biggest shareholder, China-based Harbin Pharmaceutical Group.
Guitar Center
Founded: 1959 (as The Organ Center)
Filed for bankruptcy: Nov. 21, 2020
The country’s biggest retailer of musical instruments filed for Chapter 11 reorganization eight days after unveiling a restructuring plan supported by creditors and new investors aimed at paring nearly $800 million from a $1.3 billion debt load. The company said it expects to wind up bankruptcy proceedings by the end of the year. In the meantime, its business operations, including nearly 300 Guitar Center stores and more than 200 Music & Arts outlets specializing in band and orchestral instruments for sale or rental, will continue uninterrupted.
Originally a Hollywood store selling organs and small appliances, Guitar Center took on a new name and focus in 1964 as the Beatles’ arrival fueled booming demand for electric guitars and amplifiers. Starting in the 1980s, it grew into a national chain that nurtured the aspirations of generations of would-be guitar heroes, but the company struggled in recent years with debt left over from a 2007 acquisition by Bain Capital and growing competition from online sellers. Still, it said it had seen 10 straight quarters of sales growth before stores were temporarily shuttered by the pandemic.
11 more big-name bankruptcies
These well-known names are also among more than 100 companies that have filed for Chapter 11 protection during the pandemic.
Belk
Business: Department store
Filing: Feb. 24, 2021
Dean & Deluca
Business: Gourmet grocery
Filing: April 2, 2020
Gold’s Gym
Business: Fitness
Filing: May 4, 2020
Hertz
Business: Car rental
Filing: May 22, 2020
Le Pain Quotidien
Business: Bakery café
Filing: May 27, 2020
Lucky Brand
Business: Denim
Filing: July 3, 2020
Modell’s Sporting Goods
Business: Athletic apparel and gear
Filing: March 11, 2020
Muji
Business: Home goods
Filing: July 10, 2020
RTW Retailwinds (New York & Company)
Business: Fashion
Filing: July 13, 2020
Stage Stores (Gordmans)
Business: Department store
Filing: May 10, 2020
Tuesday Morning
Business: Off-price department store
Filing: May 27, 2020
J.C. Penney
Founded: 1902
Filed for bankruptcy: May 15, 2020
An American institution that anchors malls coast to coast, J.C. Penney was already in a long-term struggle for survival when COVID-19 hit, having lost billions during the 2010s and shrinking from more than 1,000 stores to about 850 when it filed for Chapter 11 protection in May.
In the initial months of the pandemic, sales plunged by more than half and the company’s long-term debt grew to nearly $5 billion, according to SEC filings. In July, Penney announced plans to close another 150 stores as part of a restructuring designed to “create a smaller, more financially flexible company.”
Penney appears set to exit bankruptcy after winning court approval on Nov. 9 of a sale to its two biggest landlords, mall operators Brookfield Asset Management and Simon Property Group, and its bankruptcy lenders.
J. Crew
Founded: 1947 (as Popular Merchandise Inc.)
Filed for bankruptcy: May 4, 2020
The brand that became synonymous with preppy style (don’t take our word for it; ask the Urban Dictionary) has had a tumultuous recent history, churning through CEOs as it battled debt and changing consumer tastes. The company’s Chapter 11 restructuring appears set to alleviate at least one of those problems, with lenders agreeing to convert nearly all of J. Crew’s $1.7 billion debt into equity. A bankruptcy judge approved the plan on Aug. 25, and the company exited Chapter 11 on Sept. 10.
In the meantime, about 95 percent of the company’s nearly 500 J. Crew, Madewell and J. Crew Factory stores shuttered at the start of the pandemic have reopened. J. Crew closed eight stores permanently in August and had targeted dozens more for termination as part of its “real estate optimization strategy,” but those plans were paused when the company secured new terms with landlords that are projected to save it $130 million on its leases this year and next.
Lord & Taylor
Founded: 1826
Filed for bankruptcy: Aug. 2, 2020
The nation’s oldest department store announced Aug. 27 that it is closing all 38 of its locations, with liquidation sales commencing immediately. The death notice came nearly a year to the day after Lord & Taylor was acquired by fashion-rental startup Le Tote, and 25 days after both companies filed for Chapter 11 protection.
Lord & Taylor said the filing was prompted by the “unprecedented strain” on its business from COVID-19. It had already started the process of shutting down 24 stores while it searched for a buyer. “While we are still entertaining various opportunities, we believe it is prudent to simultaneously put the remainder of the stores into liquidation to maximize value of inventory” while pursuing those options, Ed Kremer, the company’s chief restructuring officer, said in a statement.
Lord & Taylor had been struggling well before the pandemic, shifting through multiple owners in recent years (including, at different times, the corporate parents of former rivals Macy’s and Saks Fifth Avenue) and closing its historic flagship store on Fifth Avenue in New York City, which became a WeWork in 2019.
Neiman Marcus
Founded: 1907
Filed for bankruptcy: May 7, 2020
The high-end department store, which also owns the even more high-end Bergdorf Goodman, entered Chapter 11 with a debt load of $5.1 billion, a hangover from two leveraged buyouts since 2005 and changing consumer habits. Neiman Marcus said in its bankruptcy filing that the pandemic disruption forced it to “proactively address its liquidity position and capital structure.”
The company won court approval for a reorganization plan that will eliminate more than $4 billion in debt and emerged from Chapter 11 in late September under new owners, including investment firms PIMCO, Sixth Street, and Davidson Kempner Capital Management. It has closed a handful of Neiman Marcus stores along with almost all of its Last Call clearance centers.
Pier 1
Founded: 1962
Filed for bankruptcy: Feb. 17, 2020
Long the country's go-to purveyor of funky home goods, Pier 1 isn't technically a pandemic bankruptcy: Its Chapter 11 filing came a few weeks before the shutdowns and stay-at-home orders. But the coronavirus finished what years of shrinking sales and spiraling losses started. After initially announcing plans to shutter up to 450 of its 900-plus stores while searching for a buyer, the company said in May that it would liquidate the entire chain.
Pier 1 spent months trying to find “a buyer who would continue to operate our business going forward” but found no takers in a “challenging retail environment [that] has been significantly compounded by the profound impact of COVID-19,” CEO Robert Riesbeck said in a statement. The chain's intellectual assets were scooped up at a bankruptcy auction by a Florida-based e-commerce venture that plans to reboot the brand online.
Stein Mart
Founded: 1908
Filed for bankruptcy: Aug. 12, 2020
The discount department store, which grew from early-20th-century roots in the Mississippi Delta into a national name in off-price fashion, ceased e-commerce and commenced going-out-of-business sales at all its approximately 280 stores after filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Stein Mart began, and operated for decades, as a single family-run store in Greenville, Mississippi. The company started expanding rapidly after moving its offices to Florida in the 1980s and going public in 1992, becoming a shopping-center staple in the Southeast and eventually reaching 30 states.
But Stein Mart had not turned a profit since 2015, and sales plunged by more than half in the first quarter of 2020 while debt grew to nearly $200 million. The “challenging retail environment,” coupled with the pandemic, left the company lacking the liquidity “to continue operating in the ordinary course of business,” CEO Hunt Hawkins said in a statement.
Tailored Brands (Men's Wearhouse, Jos. A. Bank)
Founded: 1973 (as Men's Wearhouse)
Filed for bankruptcy: Aug. 2, 2020
The menswear conglomerate sought Chapter 11 protection two weeks after announcing plans to reduce its corporate workforce by 20 percent and to close up to 500 of its 1,450 stores. The company previously reported a 60 percent sales drop for the first quarter of 2020. It plans to continue operating while undergoing a restructuring aimed at cutting its debt by at least $630 million.
Tailored Brands is the successor company to Men's Wearhouse, a dominant player in the men's suit market long known for its TV commercials featuring founder George Zimmer promising, “You're going to like the way you look.” It acquired rival Jos. A. Bank in 2014 after a contentious takeover battle and also owns K&G Fashion Superstore and Canadian menswear chain Moores. The company was already being buffeted by longtime consumer shifts to e-commerce and more casual office wear when the pandemic hit.
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