For much of the 20th century, Henri Bendel was one of the most innovative retailers in the world. It was the first retailer to spot Upper Fifth Avenue’s potential for affluent foot traffic, the first to offer an annual sale, the first to offer in-store makeovers, and the first to have its own...

It cannot really be debated that the Four Horsemen of the “retail apocalypse” have arrived and are comfortably hanging around the nation’s shopping districts. Dozens of retailers filed for bankruptcy in recent memory, including Bon-Ton, Claire’s, Gibson Brands, and Brookstone, with more on the...

A majority of today’s large Chapter 11 cases are structured as quick Section 363 sales of all the debtor’s assets followed by confirmation of a plan of liquidation, dismissal of the case, or a conversion to a Chapter 7. The purchaser in the sale is often one of the debtor’s prepetition secured or...

To minimize their financing costs, retail companies commonly provide ABL lenders and term loan lenders with senior liens over separate silos of collateral. Typically, the ABL lenders have priority liens over the company’s borrowing base assets—most commonly current assets, such as receivables and...

The U.S. retail industry is tattered and torn, and Chapter 11 continues to be an inevitable ending for many distressed retailers struggling in the post-Amazon world. Indeed, despite the recent uptick in the U.S. economy, retailer woes have continued unabated, with sales for many continuing to...

It should come as no surprise to turnaround professionals or even casual readers that the retail industry is in a state of transition. However, contrary to the popular refrain, this transition does not signal that brick-and-mortar retail is dead, nor is it in the midst of an apocalypse. The retail...

Last year more than 20 national retail chains filed for bankruptcy protection, continuing a trend that many observers attribute to the rise of e-commerce and the unprecedented growth of Amazon. While the impact of those forces certainly cannot be denied, the history of retail is also one marked by...

The 2005 amendments to the U.S. Bankruptcy Code foreclosed the ability of retailers to defer store lease assumption or rejection decisions until the end of a bankruptcy case. Following the 2005 amendments, retailers followed a predictable path leading up to bankruptcy, typified by waiting as long...

When charting a course through bankruptcy, retailers must prioritize maintaining sufficient liquidity to fund operations and the expenses associated with the case. To accomplish this, retailers typically use a lender’s cash collateral and obtain debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing. Both are...

The struggles of the U.S. retail sector have been well publicized—so much so that the term “retail apocalypse” is now firmly established in the lexicon. Last year alone, more than 20 national chains in the United States, including names like RadioShack, hhgregg, BCBG Max Azria, Gander Mountain, and...