An Express store promotes deep gross sales in Valley West Mall in Iowa, in January 2020.
Andrew Harnik/AP
cover caption
toggle caption
Andrew Harnik/AP
An Express store promotes deep gross sales in Valley West Mall in Iowa, in January 2020.
Andrew Harnik/AP
Clothing store Express, a longtime mainstay of American malls, has filed for bankruptcy safety, closing dozens of shops but additionally eyeing a survival plan that entails getting bought.
At its peak, Express outfitted generations of mall consumers in slacks and blouses, and even acquired manufacturers Bonobos and UpWest.
But the chain has been dropping each consumers and cash, as many malls withered and folks modified how they gown for work: much less formal, extra informal, much less cookie-cutter, extra angle. Express — neither high-end, nor low-cost — obtained left behind, dragged down additional by hire and debt.
Monday’s bankruptcy announcement says the chain will shut 95 Express shops, or simply beneath a fifth of them, and all 10 UpWest shops. Last month, the New York Stock Exchange delisted the retailer due to its languishing inventory worth.
Now, Express has acquired a bid to be acquired by a consortium. It consists of brand-management agency WHP Global and main mall operators Simon Property Group and Brookfield Properties. The corporations in recent times have been investing in more retail brands in want of a resuscitation.
New Express CEO Stewart Glendinning acknowledged “missteps” in clothes choice, “most notably in women’s, where we were out of balance across categories, price points and wearing occasions,” he informed traders in November, including: “We believe strongly there’s a path to total company improvement.”
In its bankruptcy submitting, Express stated it is also receiving an infusion of $35 million in new financing from a few of its lenders, plus one other $49 million from the Internal Revenue Service associated to the CARES Act, the federal coronavirus reduction package deal.