Lord & Taylor will close all of its stores under pressure from the coronavirus pandemic, ending the department store chain's nearl...
Lord & Taylor will close all of its stores under pressure from the coronavirus pandemic, ending the department store chain's nearly 200-year run.
The company on Thursday said that it would close all of its 38 stores in liquidation sales, a reversal from last week's decision to keep 14 locations open as it pursues Chapter 11.
Lord & Taylor, which began as a Manhattan dry goods store in 1824, was sold to the French rental clothing company Le Tote Inc last year.
Both filed for bankruptcy protection, separately, in the Eastern Court of Virginia earlier this month.
People walk by the former Lord & Taylor's flagship store on 5th Avenue in Manhattan in 2018. Amazon purchased the building for $1 billion earlier this month
A woman pauses to read a farewell sign from outside Lord & Taylor's flagship Fifth Avenue store which closed for good, Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2019, in New York
People walk by the Lord & Taylor store on Fifth Avenue in 1935
'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 for the estate while pursuing options for the Company's brands,' Ed Kremer, Le Tote's chief restructuring officer said in a statement.
The company last year, before the emergence of coronavirus, sold its 11-story flagship building on New York´s Fifth Avenue which it had owned for more than a century.
The iconic building was purchased by troubled co-working firm WeWork, before Amazon announced that it had acquired the building for a new Manhattan office earlier this month.
Lord & Taylor's going out of business sale is expected to begin in most remaining stores on Thursday, and will include store inventory as well as fixtures, furniture, and equipment, the company said.
Lord & Taylor, which began as a Manhattan dry goods store in 1824, was sold to the French rental clothing company Le Tote Inc last year
Miss Louise White (in white) and Miss Winifred Brown (in brown), stroll past a group of on-lookers on Fifth Avenue outside the Lord & Taylor Department Store in 1915
A customer talks to a saleswoman while shopping at Lord and Taylor department store in April 1946, in New York City
Dozens of retailers, big and small, have filed for Chapter 11 protection this year. The pace through the first half of 2020 far exceeds the number of retail bankruptcies for all of last year.
About two dozen stores have sought bankruptcy protection since the pandemic started.
They include J. Crew, J.C. Penney, Neiman Marcus, Stage Stores, and Ascena Retail Group, which owns Lane Bryant in addition to Ann Taylor.
The owner of Men's Wearhouse and Jos. A. Bank also filed for bankruptcy on the same day as Lord & Taylor.
Tailored Brands, which owns Men´s Wearhouse and Jos. A. Bank stores, was struggling even before shelter-in-place orders smothered any demand for suits or ties. It wasn't alone.
A pedestrian walks past the Lord and Taylor store in Boston on August 4. Lord and Taylor, filing for bankruptcy, plans to close two Boston-area stores
Pedestrians walk past a shuttered Lord and Taylor department store following their filing for bankruptcy amid the COVID-19 pandemic on May 12, 2020 in Garden City, New York
Last month, Brooks Brothers, the 200-year-old company that dressed nearly every U.S. president, filed for bankruptcy protection. Its rival, Barneys New York, is being dismantled after filing for bankruptcy last year.
Tailored Brands filed for Chapter 11 protection Sunday in the Southern District of Texas.
Men's Wearhouse and Jos. A. Bank stores, along with K&G Fashion Superstore and Moores Clothing for Men, all owned by Tailored, with continue to operate during restructuring. The company expects to reduce it's funded debt by at least $630 million.
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