Two national retailers with a Maine presence are going out of business
Two national retailers with a Maine presence said they plan to close stores in the near future.
Big Lots stores, including four in Maine, will prepare to close after a failed sale to a private equity firm. Party City, with two Maine locations, is also slated to close.
In a press release last week, Ohio-based Big Lots said a previously announced sale of its assets to Nexus Capital Management had failed. However, they still hoped to either revive the deal with Nexus or have another buyer by early January.
Going out-of-business sales will be held at the remaining stores, according to the release.
As of January 2023, the retailer operated 1,450 stores nationwide. Big Lots lists four remaining stores in Maine: in Auburn, Augusta, Brunswick and Farmington.
The discount retailer sells furniture, seasonal items, home furnishings, food, consumables, electronics and apparel.
The company closed the Big Lots in Portland in August and the Biddeford store in April 2023.
"We all have worked extremely hard and have taken every step to complete a going concern sale,” said Bruce Thorn, Big Lots' president and CEO. “While we remain hopeful that we can close an alternative going concern transaction, in order to protect the value of the Big Lots estate, we have made the difficult decision to begin the GOB process."
Economic 'headwinds'
Party City, a New Jersey-based company with stores in Bangor and South Portland, filed for bankruptcy for the second time in under two years.
In a press release, the party supplier said it has been operating in a challenging environment with inflationary pressures on costs and consumer spending. Navigating these “headwinds” was insufficient for the business to overcome the challenges.
After nearly 40 years in operation, the retailer plans to wind down its retail and wholesale operations and go out of business sales at its approximately 700 stores nationwide.
The exact closing date is undetermined.
Party City filed for bankruptcy in 2023 and was able to cancel nearly $1 billion of its $1.7 billion debt.
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