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Eddie Bauer will reportedly close all physical retail stores after failing to find a buyer during its Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings, Yahoo! Finance reports.
Eddie Bauer LLC previously canceled an auction scheduled for March 6 after no qualified bids were made prior to the March 3 deadline, according to bankruptcy court filings. The company will continue liquidation sales at its brick-and-mortar locations unless a last-minute deal occurs during the proceedings.
Eddie Bauer LLC had hired real estate brokerage firm RCS Real Estate Advisors to market around 174 store leases, including 150 locations in 40 U.S. states and 24 in six Canadian provinces. The company announced last week that it would no longer be accept gift cards as of March 12 amid closures.
The popular outdoor clothing chain will stop its honor rewards program, the Eddie Bauer Adventure Points program, once the closures begin. Catalyst Brands, the retail operator of Eddie Bauer, reportedly plans to shutter an estimated 180 stores located across the United States and Canada as part of its bankruptcy plans.
Women's Wear Daily reported in January that the bankruptcy filing wouldn't, however, impact the company's manufacturing, e-commerce and wholesale operation in North America as it was in the process of transitioning ownership from Catalyst Brands to a new licensee, nor stores located in Japan. Eddie Bauer had previously filed for bankruptcy twice in its 106-year existence, initially in March 2003 when its then-parent company, Spiegel Inc., faced debts and was forced to close several stores.
The brand restructured as the stand-alone Eddie Bauer Holdings, Inc., and survived after concluding bankruptcy protection in June 2005. Eddie Bauer again faced bankruptcy when it was acquired by Golden Gate Capital in 2009, having later been acquired by Authentic Brands Group and SPARC Group LLC in 2011.