Stein Mart files for financial difficulty; to end almost 300 shops

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — National cleave price department store chain Stein Mart filed for financial difficulty on Wednesday after 112 years in substitute, and announced that this might per chance perchance end most, if now now not all, of its 280 shops.

“The combined results of a exciting retail ambiance coupled with the impact of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic comprise triggered significant financial hurt on our substitute,” wrote Chief Government Officer Hunt Hawkins in a data free up. “The Firm lacks sufficient liquidity to continue working in the usual direction of substitute.”

Headquartered in Jacksonville, Florida, Stein Mart has bigger than 280 shops in 30 states specializing in clothing, footwear and housewares at cleave price costs. Hundreds of the shops would be found in community browsing centers. As of Also can merely 30, the company employed about 8,400 of us.

Hawkins acknowledged Stein Mart will continue to operate customarily “in spite of every little thing to timeframe,” and is evaluating the aptitude sale of its eCommerce substitute. A going-out-of-substitute sale will originate Friday or Saturday, based on spokeswoman Linda Tasseff, who acknowledged she anticipates all shops will inner sight the fourth quarter of 2020, with closing dates varying by store.

“Please know that this became a very anxious resolution, and is deeply disappointing for all of us at Stein Mart,” Hawkins acknowledged in a written assertion. “We comprise loved serving our communities over time and are so grateful to our valid potentialities who selected to store our shops.”

Stein Mart closed its agencies in mid-March on memoir of the pandemic. It started reopening in April, and finally reopened all of its shops with reduced hours. It borrowed $10 million in June beneath the federal Paycheck Protection Program. The corporate first started doing substitute in 1908, in Mississippi.

More then 40 shops comprise filed for Chapter 11 this year, including bigger than two dozen shops who filed for the reason that pandemic started. Final year, 23 shops filed for Chapter 11.

Among them: The US’s oldest retailer, Lord & Taylor; J. Crew; J.C. Penney; Neiman Marcus; Men’s Wearhouse; Jos. A. Monetary institution; Stage Stores; and Ascena Retail Neighborhood, which owns Lane Bryant and Ann Taylor.