- Discount furniture seller bought rival chain just last year
- Company says it employs about 3,800 people across 15 states
Furniture retailer Conn’s Inc. filed for bankruptcy with plans to shut down after trouble integrating a recent acquisition compounded the pain of lagging sales.
The company sought Chapter 11 protection in Texas, listing assets and liabilities of at least $1 billion each in its bankruptcy petition. The filing allows Conn’s, which sells discount home goods and offers financing to customers, to keep operating while it sells assets and liquidates stores.
Conn’s has been burning cash in recent months as its customer base cooled on home goods purchases and higher interest rates weighed on its finances. Meanwhile, and the company struggled to integrate its operations with that of W.S. Badcock LLC, which it purchased from Franchise Group Inc. just last year.
The company’s cash needs more recently became “dire and immediate,” Chief Executive Officer Norman L. Miller said in a sworn statement. Conn’s made the decision to shut down after failing to raise enough new money to keep funding itself while searching for a buyer of the whole business, he said.
Bloomberg earlier reported Conn’s was preparing to file for bankruptcy.
Conn’s traces its roots to a small heating and plumbing business founded in 1890. It started selling home appliances out of its store in Beaumont, Texas about 40 years later. It now counts more than 550 corporate and dealer stores, according to court papers.
The company — based in The Woodlands, Texas — employs about 3,800 people in 15 states. Its short-term bankruptcy financing requires all store closing sales be completed by the end of October.
In an email, a Conn’s representative said the company continues to have discussions with potential buyers to sell all or parts of the business and preserve jobs.
The case is Conn’s Inc., number 24-33357, in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas.
Written by: Reshmi Basu and Eliza Ronalds-Hannon — With assistance from Janine Phakdeetham and Jessica Nix @Bloomberg
The post “US New-Home Sales Unexpectedly Decline to a Seven-Month Low” first appeared on Bloomberg
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