Badcock Home Furniture & More, a retailer based in the southern United States, announced Tuesday that it will close all of its stores.
The 120-year-old chain is owned by Conn’s, which filed for bankruptcy last week saddled with nearly $2 billion in debt and a host of overhead costs, many of which were associated with its acquisition of Badcock last year.
Badcock has more than 380 stores in Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Virginia.
It’s unclear when exactly they will close, but the home goods company announced a “going out of business sale,” where nearly all items in stores and online are discounted by 30 to 50 percent.
Conn’s said it may be necessary to close “some, all or a significant number of stores” to gain liquidity and maximize the value of the bankruptcy estate, according to the July 23 filing.
Badcock has more than 380 stores in Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Virginia, all of which will close at an unspecified date.
Conn’s has closed 71 stores bearing its name, leaving just over 100 locations still in operation.
To clear out its inventory, Badcock stores’ furniture is discounted by up to 50 percent. Bedding and electronics are discounted by up to 40 percent, while appliances are discounted by 30 percent.
With Badcock’s bankruptcy, Conn’s has closed 451 of its 553 stores, meaning more than four out of five of its branches will soon disappear.
Conn’s and Badcock stores employ about 3,800 full-time and 150 part-time employees.
Headquartered in The Woodlands, Texas, Conn’s has been around in one form or another for 134 years.
First, it was a plumbing and heating company, and in 1933 Carroll Wayne Conn, Sr. acquired the store, giving Conn’s its modern namesake.
The store first entered the refrigerator retail business in 1937, but today sells everything from appliances to televisions, furniture and more.
For years, Conn’s has struggled with growing its physical presence.
That led him to buy Badcock in December 2023 as a last-ditch effort to boost sales and keep the business afloat.
It didn’t work
In a April DisclosureConn’s announced that it closed 2023 with a year-over-year net loss of nearly $77 million.
Conn’s stock has been in free fall for over three years, down a staggering 98 percent since June 2021. Following the bankruptcy, the stock plummeted even further and now sits at around $0.34 per share.
To clear out its inventory, Badcock stores’ furniture, pictured, is discounted by up to 50 percent. Bedding and electronics are discounted by up to 40 percent, while appliances are discounted by 30 percent.
Conn’s appears to have struggled with its growing brick-and-mortar presence, culminating in the acquisition of Badcock in December 2023 that has saddled the company with debt and high overhead costs, Bloomberg reported.
DailyMail.com reached out to Conn’s for comment on the latest wave of closures and ongoing bankruptcy but did not immediately receive a response.
The latest troubles facing Conn’s and its subsidiary Badcock come amid a widespread “retail apocalypse” that is seeing brick-and-mortar stores struggle to combat rampant theft and increasingly tight margins.
By the end of April, US retailers had announced the closure of nearly 2,600 stores by 2024.
Walmart, the largest U.S. retailer, has closed 11 stores so far this year.
In early April, dollar store 99 Cents Only said it would close ALL 371 of its stores, while Best Buy closed ten. in March.
dollar tree is closing 1,000, Macy’s 150 – a third of its total – and pharmacy Rite Aid 77.
In recent months, there have been a number of bankruptcies, along with store closures.
Express, a mall staple, filed for bankruptcy in April and said it would close 95 Express locations along with all of its UpWest stores.
In early May, Rue21, the teen fashion chain that is a fixture in malls across the United States, also said it will close all 543 of its U.S. stores.