Christmas Tree Shops going-out-of-business sales missed revenue targets by $14M, report says
Christmas Tree Shops store-closing sales missed revenue targets by $14 million, an attorney representing the Middleboro-based retailer said during a federal bankruptcy hearing on Wednesday, according to a report.
During the hearing in Wilmington, Delaware, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Thomas Horan converted Christmas Tree Shops’ bankruptcy to a Chapter 7 liquidation, stressing that a court-appointed trustee should take over the discounted home decor chain’s finances to address doubts about unpaid employee wages as business comes to a close, Reuters reported.
The struggling retailer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in May and then announced liquidation sales at all of its stores in July after defaulting on a loan that funds its bankruptcy.
An attorney for bankruptcy lender and store liquidator, Hilco Global, told the court that Christmas Tree Shops management exceeded its loan budget and told employees they would receive bonuses that their client never agreed to fund, according to the report.
Judge Horan ultimately got the two sides to agree to pay $1.17 million to store-level employees who worked during the going-out-of-business sales.
Hilco initially pushed back, arguing that it didn’t trust Christmas Tree Shops’ ability to calculate wages, but changed its tune when Horan threatened to withhold fees for bankruptcy lawyers if workers weren’t paid, the report said.
Christmas Tree Shops closed all of its remaining 82 stores this past weekend, marking the end of a run that started in 1970 when its first location opened in Yarmouth Port.
The chain’s iconic store that say at the base of Cape Cod’s Sagamore Bridge will be turned into a Spirit Halloween. It’s not clear what will become of the other shuttered spots.
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