Vendors who do business with Tuesday Morning, the off-price home merchandise retailer in chapter 11 bankruptcy, say they are now dealing with Hilco, the third-party going-out-of-business operator.
Hilco appears to now be running Tuesday Morning with one supplier saying they “took over” the retailer and that this was probably a clear sign it was headed for liquidation and going out of business. Two other suppliers to the retail chain, who also declined to be identified in this story, confirmed the Hilco news.
Both Hilco and Tuesday Morning, through its legal counsel, did not respond to inquiries for comment as this story was being published. No going out of business signs have been spotted at any store locations. Hilco is also the going-out-of-business agent handling Bed Bath & Beyond’s probable liquidation following its bankruptcy filing this past weekend.
Tuesday Morning, which has had a long history of ups and downs, booms and busts, filed for bankruptcy in February earlier this year and at the time said it expected to close about half of its nearly 500 locations but remain in business.
“Tuesday Morning plans to focus on optimizing its store footprint and focusing on its core and heritage markets,” it said in announcing the bankruptcy. “The Company intends to close stores in low-traffic regions while allocating the proper resources to remaining stores in high-traffic regions. The Company believes this targeted approach to winding down unprofitable and underperforming stores will position Tuesday Morning to emerge from bankruptcy with a profitable, cash-generating store fleet that serves its most engaged and loyal customers.”
It’s unknown how many stores it has actually closed but on its website, a banner reads “We’re Open! View the Full List of 200 Locations.” This is the retailer’s second time in bankruptcy, the first being just three years ago when it closed about a third of its then 687 locations.
Last fall, the company said it had received a $32 million (also reported as $35 million by some sources) investment from Retail Ecommerce Ventures, which also goes by the abbreviated name REV, and Ayon Capital. At the time it said it also had received an additional $3 million in funding from certain executives at the company, including CEO Fred Hand. A month later Hand was gone and the company said that Andrew Berger, identified as a turnaround consultant, was its newly appointed CEO. Tuesday’s public stock was delisted a month later when REV essentially took it private with its investment.
REV, which owns a veritable shopping cart of previously alive-and-well retail brands like Pier 1, Radio Shack, Stein Mart, Dress Barn, Modell’s Sporting Goods and Linens n Things, lists Tuesday Morning on its site under “Holdings.”
Last month Bloomberg News reported that REV itself was lining up financing for a possible bankruptcy. REV did not respond to these reports, also in the New York Post, and no bankruptcy has been filed since the initial report.
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