Tuesday Morning to close 20 stores
Retailer files for bankruptcy, citing fallout from closures related to pandemic
Discount home goods retailer Tuesday Morning has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, saying it will close 263 underperforming stores, including 20 in Southern California and 31 statewide.
Local closures include stores in Glendora, Woodland Hills, Granada Hills, Torrance, La Verne, Lakewood, Santa Monica, Orange, Fountain Valley, Rancho Cucamonga, Riverside, Redlands and Palm Desert. Five in San Diego County and two in Ventura County also are closing.
The first phase of closures will include about 130 stores and is set to begin this summer, according to CNN. The U.S. closures amount to half of the retailer's 487 locations in 40 states.
In a Tuesday posting, the company on its website listed all of the closing stores with an “Everything on sale” banner.
This is Tuesday Morning's second bankruptcy in three years. The Dallas-based retailer cited continuing fallout from temporary store closures related to the
COVID-19 pandemic.
CEO Steve Becker said the business was doing well before the pandemic hit and necessitated the closures and employee furloughs — moves that had “severe consequences on our business.”
“After considering how best to address Tuesday Morning's exceedingly burdensome debt, we have determined that the best path to reorganizing and transforming the company begins with a Chapter 11 filing,” Becker said in a statement.
Becker said the company has secured $51.5 million in financing from Invictus Global Management
to support ongoing operations during the bankruptcy proceedings.
“We look forward to playing an important role in reorganizing and transforming Tuesday Morning,” said Amit Patel, a partner with Invictus. “As a Texas-based investment firm with strong roots in the state, we have long admired Tuesday Morning's strong connection to customers seeking unique home goods at competitive prices.”
Tuesday Morning's dilemma is nothing new.
JCPenney, Neiman Marcus and J. Crew all filed for bankruptcy protection in May and Pier 1, which also sells home goods, filed for bankruptcy in February. Bed Bath & Beyond also is closing stores as it prepares for bankruptcy.
Burt Flickinger III, managing director for the retail consulting firm Strategic Resource Group, said Tuesday Morning's situation reflects an acceleration of the “retail ice age” that wiped out thousands of stores in the decade prior to COVID-19 as e-commerce gained a stronger foothold.
“Before COVID-19, about one in eight purchases in retail were done online,” he said. “Now it's about one out of every five.”
Tuesday Morning plans to use the bankruptcy process to renegotiate a “significant number” of leases and will have about 224 stores left after the process is complete. The bankruptcy process will allow the retailer to focus on highperforming stores that are located in vibrant markets, company officials said.
Tuesday Morning has reopened about 80% of its stores in recent weeks and has brought 7,000 employees back to work, CNN said. It said sales are up 10% compared with the same time period a year earlier.
Flickinger said retailers are grappling with a consumer base that has been stretched thin by inflation.
“Over 70% of Californians and Americans are living paycheck to paycheck,” he said. “And stores like Tuesday Morning are getting crushed through no fault of their own. High prices and inflation have left people with less disposable income, so profits at stores are being squeezed shut.”
Southern California retail centers with scheduled Tuesday Morning closures:
• Glendora East Shopping Center, 1000 E. Route 66, Glendora.
• Terra Visa Town Center, 11098 E. Foothill Blvd., Rancho Cucamonga.
• Redlands Town Centre, 9940 Alabama St., Redlands.
• Woodcrest Plaza, 17126 Van Buren Blvd., Riverside.
• Pride Center, 22950 Victory Blvd., Woodland Hills.
• Town Center Plaza, 44250 Town Center Way, Palm Desert.
• Lakewood Marketplace, 5432 Woodruff Ave., Lakewood.
• Santiago Hills Marketplace, 8520 E. Chapman Ave., Orange.
• 17120 Magnolia St., Fountain Valley.
• Granada Hills Town Center, 18040 Chatsworth St., Granada Hills.
• Village La Verne, 2139 Foothill Blvd., La Verne.
• 23855 Hawthorne Blvd., Torrance.
• 901 Santa Monica Blvd., Santa Monica.