LL Flooring, the once formidable flooring hardware competitor of Home Depot, previously known as Lumber Liquidators, is closing all its stores only weeks after filing for bankruptcy.
The 30-year-old hardware store, which once operated over 400 stores in the US, said it decided to liquidate after several negotiations didn’t yield the “best offer for the company.”
“LL Flooring has been working hard to pursue a going-concern sale of the Company and has actively negotiated with multiple bidders. These discussions have not resulted in an offer, with the necessary financing, that would maximize the value of LL Flooring,” the company said in an update on its restructuring plan.
“Under Chapter 11 rules, the Company is required to achieve the highest or otherwise best offer for the Company’s business or assets and, in this case, it was determined that a sale of the Company’s individual assets, holding closing sales at our stores and winding down the business will deliver the most value to its creditors.”
LL Flooring says it began an “orderly wind-down of operations” the week of Sept. 3 with closing sales at all remaining stores starting on Sept. 6.
The closing process is expected to be completed in 12 weeks, but closures will vary by store.
LL Flooring filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Aug. 11 and commenced “voluntary restructuring operations.”
Reports of an impending bankruptcy had been ongoing since July as the company’s sales had been steadily falling over the past few years – likely due to a consumer spending cutback on home renovations amid high interest rates and stubborn inflation.
LL Flooring Holdings Inc. stock has dropped from 84 cents to 2 cents since the Chapter 11 filing.
Customers who have made orders will have the installations fulfilled within 30 days, but the company will stop offering installations after Sept. 6.
Those who have ordered and paid a deposit will no longer be eligible for cancelation and refund as all sales are final after Sept. 6, the store shared.
“We have been proud to serve our customers over the years and thank you again for your business and turning to us for your flooring needs,” CEO Charles Tyson wrote to customers.
Lumber Liquidators – founded by Tom Sullivan in 1994 – changed its name to LL Flooring in 2021 after the company came under fire in a 2015 “60 Minutes” investigation.
A probe found that large amounts of the supplier’s flooring came from China and contained high levels of carcinogenic formaldehyde.
The company agreed to pay regulators $33 million in 2019 to settle federal charges concerning the safety of its laminate flooring.
LL Flooring is the latest company to struggle due to persistent inflation and cash-strapped customers.
In July, Bob’s Stores, the beloved store that had clothed families across the northeast for 70 years, announced it would permanently shut its doors at all its locations in the US’s latest retail casualty.
The 21 locations throughout Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York and Rhode Island were permanently shuttered on July 14.
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