Bon-Ton
Established in 1898, Bon-Ton department stores survived WWI and WWII, but not the invention of internet shopping. In fact, during WWI and through the Roaring Twenties, Bon-Ton was in its heyday. In 2018, the York, Pennsylvania-based company closed its 250 stores, liquidated its merchandise, and left vacant large department store-sized leases. It was the largest retail bankruptcy of the year.
Bon-Ton, the name derived from a British term of the day, of French origin, with references to proper manners and high society, may once again don storefronts. The company also operated under the names Bergner’s, Boston Store, Carson’s, Elder-Beerman, Herberger’s, and Younkers. It’s not easy to make it in retail these days but with the help of large venture capital firms and those plans to relaunch the store, who knows what will happen.
GNC
The brick-and-mortar vitamin industry has been floundering for years. Vitamin Shoppe is currently looking for a turnaround, and Vitamin World filed for bankruptcy in 2017. Vitamin and supplement retail shop General Nutrition Centers (GNC), so far, has avoided bankruptcy court, yet it has been struggling against an oppressive $1.38 billion in long-term debt. Because of the massive owe, its share price sunk 66% in 2017 as investors expressed a wane in confidence.
To recover profit, in 2018, GNC closed 200 stores, and it secured an investment from a Chinese company. As part of the plan, GNC officials received $100 million from Harbin Pharmaceutical Group, a Chinese pharmaceutical giant. In exchange, the Chinese company procured 100,000 shares of GNC stock for just over $4, which, incidentally, has been trading in the neighborhood of $2 to $3 per share.
Kmart
The good news is Kmart survived a major bankruptcy. The super discount store emerged from bankruptcy just this year, but it is battered and beaten, having lost thousands of stores before and during the Retail Apocalypse. But 2018 wasn’t the store’s first brush with bankruptcy.
Kmart also filed for Chapter 11 in 2002. Since the more recent bankruptcy in 2018, the chain has been reduced to a measly 200 locations, and there is more to come. During the first filing, the chain collapsed and merged with Sears. The recent announcement of store closings affects both stores, and about 26 stores in total disappeared.
Charlotte Russe
In the biblical version of the apocalypse, some will be saved while others are eternally doomed. As for the fate of Charlotte Russe, its judgment came down swiftly and decisively in February 2019. A liquidator firm won an auction in the bankruptcy court, which allowed it to swallow the young lady's clothing store’s $160 million worth of inventory and all its assets whole.
Liquidation sales signs were immediately posted as the firm, SB360 Capital Partners, conducted “going out of business” sales. There were 560 shops nationwide and in Puerto Rico. Charlotte Russe was founded by Lawrence Merchandising in 1975 with one store in Carlsbad near San Diego. By 2009 the chain had been acquired by a private equity firm, Advent International.
FullBeauty Brands Inc.
FullBeauty holds the bankruptcy crown. The company fell into bankruptcy in February 2019, filing for Chapter 11 protection. It broke the record for the fastest U.S. bankruptcy resolution ever. Like ripping off the band-aid, FullBeauty cut more than $1 billion in debt to $900 million.
FullBeauty Brands is a plus-size specialty vendor that sells men’s and women’s clothing. Some of its catalogs are Woman Within, Jessica London, Ellos, KingSize, and fullbeauty.com. Since it’s a mail-order and online company, bankruptcy proceedings were less complicated without physical stores to deal with. In October 2015, FullBeauty Brands Inc. was purchased by British private equity firm Apax Partners. It’s now shared with the above partners as well as Charlesbank Capital.