LNT Lease Auction: Five Down, 157 To Go
By Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 7/28/2008 9:23:00 AM
Wilmington, Del. — Confronted by a marketplace glut of vacant retail space, bankrupt Linens ’n Things was able to sell off just five of the initial 120 closed store leases during an auction last week, according to documents filed with the federal bankruptcy court.
Those are the leases from the first round of store closings announced by the company, which were auctioned at the offices of LNT’s bankruptcy attorneys here. All five of the sold leases were located in California and were purchased by Smart and Final stores.
LNT rejected or is in negotiations to terminate leases in seven other stores, mostly in California, but also in Georgia and Florida.
“Debtors are continuing to market lease,” the company said of each of the other 108 locations. However, bankruptcy law gives the retailer a maximum of 210 days to decide whether to assume or reject those leases.
It’s unclear if the auction result or the softness of the retail real estate market, in general, influenced the company’s decision to scale back a second round of closings to 57 additional stores instead of the original 87 that were announced. In a statement this morning, interim ceo Michael Gries said, “The reduced number of store closings is the result of improvements in the outlook for these stores throughout the remainder of 2008 and 2009.”
With the change, the total count of stores to be closed numbers 177.
Six states account for more than half of the closures, losing a total of 93 units. California will lose a total of 39 stores; Florida, 16; Texas, 11; Michigan 10; New York, nine; and Arizona, eight.
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