Eddie Bauer Store Operator Files Chapter 11, Seeks White Knight to Keep Stores Open

The days are numbered for Eddie Bauer’s store fleet.

Early Monday, Eddie Bauer LLC, a part of Catalyst Brands and relation of the 200-plus stores successful North America nether licence from the marque proprietor Authentic Brands Group, entered into a restructuring enactment statement with its secured lenders and filed a voluntary Chapter 11 petition successful the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey.

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The bankruptcy confirms a study successful WWD connected Jan. 29. The filing does not interaction Eddie Bauer’s e-commerce oregon wholesale operations oregon its 20 oregon truthful stores operating successful Japan.

Buzz had been gathering online for weeks aft rumors of a imaginable bankruptcy surfaced. The flames were fueled by going-out-of-business income that person already started astatine immoderate 40 units whose leases reportedly expired astatine the extremity of January. But the Chapter 11 filing volition let the institution to adjacent the remaining stores successful the fleet.

However, it’s imaginable that different entity could look to bargain the store operating rights and support a fistful of units open. Sources said respective different companies person expressed interest, but immoderate woody would person to beryllium approved by the bankruptcy court.

In revealing the bankruptcy, Eddie Bauer LLC said it would behaviour liquidation income portion “continuing to prosecute an ongoing merchantability process to behaviour an expeditious, value-maximizing going interest merchantability of each oregon portion of its store operations.”

Earlier this month, the company’s manufacturing, e-commerce and wholesale operations successful the U.S. and Canada transitioned from Catalyst to Outdoor 5, a planetary plan and merchandise improvement level which volition proceed to run those categories. Outside of its ain stores and e-commerce site, the marque is besides carried astatine Costco, Kohl’s and immoderate off-price players including T.J. Maxx.

Eddie Bauer LLC has besides filed what it deemed “customary motions” with the bankruptcy tribunal seeking a assortment of “first-day” relief, including support of the usage of currency collateral to wage worker wages and benefits and money operations done the Chapter 11 process.

Marc Rosen, main enforcement serviceman of Catalyst Brands, said, “Even anterior to the inception of Catalyst Brands past year, the retail institution was successful a challenged situation, with declining sales, proviso concatenation challenges and other issues. Over the past year, these challenges person been exacerbated by assorted headwinds, including increased costs of doing concern owed to inflation, ongoing tariff uncertainty, and different factors. While the leadership squad astatine Catalyst was capable to marque important strides successful the brand, including rapid improvements successful merchandise improvement and marketing, those changes could not beryllium implemented fast enough to afloat code the challenges created implicit respective years.”