Luxury department-store chain and the oldest department store in the U.S., Lord & Taylor, filed for bankruptcy Sunday - becoming the latest company on a long list of companies to do so as a result of the worldwide pandemic that has affected retailers.
The company - famed for its high-scale fashions and posh holiday window displays - projected both assets and liabilities in the $100 million to $500 million range, according to documents filed with the Eastern District of Virginia's Bankruptcy Court.
It will submit a restructuring proposal with the U.S. court, it said. Established in Manhattan in 1826 by two English immigrants the company said it owed roughly $137.9 million.
Lord & Taylor opened its second branch in 1853 and a third in 1860. The flagship store on Fifth Avenue in New York was opened in 1914 and featured a concert hall with a custom-built pipe organ and multiple dining rooms.
Lord & Taylor had been seeking other options including the Sunday Chapter 11 filing. The company was bought by the online clothing-rental startup Le Tote less than a year ago. In the court filing Le Tote said it posted sales of around $253.5 million last year.
Big names that had earlier declared bankruptcy include JC Penney, Neiman Marcus and J Crew Group. Lucky Brand became a casualty of the virus last month.
San Francisco-based Le Tote Inc. acquired the rights to the company's shops, brand and e-commerce site from Hudson's Bay Co. for $71 million in 2019. Lord & Taylor shut all its shops in March as authorities ordered residents to shelter in place to curb the spread of the virus.
Canada's Hudson's Bay had sold the chain's New York flagship building to WeWork and, at one point, even began selling its products on Walmart's website.
Le Tote wanted to reboot Lord & Taylor and boost its own fortunes by attracting 30-something consumers and urban residents to visit the company's shops. It also sought to get core Lord & Taylor target customers - the suburban woman around the age of 50 - to try Le Tote.
But that was affected by the pandemic which has had a significant effect on conventional retailers - especially those forced to close down shops as part of widespread lockdowns. Clothing revenues fell dramatically as consumers spent months stuck at home.
In a Reuters report in May Lord & Taylor said it would liquidate stock at its 38 department stores once prohibitions to contain the virus spread were lifted and that the company was preparing for bankruptcy.
