LORD + TAYLOR TO LAY OFF 150 AT CONNECTICUT STORES
Lord + Taylor plans to lay off about 150 employees at its soon-to-close stores in Connecticut, the bankrupt departmentstore chain told state officials this week.
The job cuts will include 58 positions at its standalone store in Stamford, 40 at Westfield Trumbull mall, 28 at Danbury Fair mall and 24 at Westfarms mall in Farmington, according to a letter that parent company Le Tote sent to the state Department of Labor.
Layoffs are scheduled to occur on Dec. 1 or in the following 14 days. Affected employees are not unionized. Trumbull officials said they would be posting next week on the town’s website information for an Oct. 29 virtual Town Hall meeting on job opportunities. Amazon, Image First Health Care Laundry, the town’s human resources department and several other organizations are set to participate.
“Anytime a company — especially one as longstanding as Lord + Taylor — closes and people lose their jobs, it is very unfortunate,” said Trumbull First Selectman Vicki Tesoro. “Anticipating these job losses and other COVID-19 job losses, we have been working to get new job opportunities in Trumbull out to the community.”
Retail staff represent one of the worker groups hardest hit by the coronavirus crisis. In Connecticut, the industry employed about 158,000 in August, up 1 percent from July. But the total trailed by 16,500 the statewide headcount in August 2019, equivalent to a drop of nearly 10 percent.
In August, Lord + Taylor and Le Tote filed for bankruptcy. After initially announcing that it would shutter half of its 38 stores, Lord + Taylor subsequently said it would close all of its locations.
Going-out-of-business sales are underway at the stores. Dec. 1 is listed as the closing date for the Connecticut locations on the labor department’s website.
The demise of a business founded in 1826 did not come as a surprise after reports in recent months that it had been weighing liquidation sales as soon as its stores reopened from temporary closings sparked by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Its struggles contributed to Hudson’s Bay Co.’s decision last year to sell the business to Le Tote, which is a rental-clothing company.
In January 2019, Lord + Taylor shuttered its flagship store in Manhattan, ending a 104-year run for the midtown establishment. The property was sold for $850 million to co-working firm WeWork and partner Rhone Capital.
About a year and half ago, however, Lord + Taylor officials were still optimistic about suburban locations such as Stamford.
“At this point, we believe that Stamford represents, quite frankly, the bread and butter of who Lord + Taylor is,” then-Lord + Taylor President Vanessa LeFebvre said in an interview last year. “A freestanding store is where we can have a more intimate relationship with our customers.”
But COVID-19 dimmed hopes of a turnaround for Lord + Taylor and many other retail companies.
Other recent bankruptcies include Brooks Brothers; J. Crew; J.C. Penney; Neiman Marcus; Stage Stores; Tailored Brands, which owns Men’s Wearhouse and Jos. A. Bank; and Ascena Retail Group, which owns several brands, including Ann Taylor, Justice and Lane Bryant.