A judge overseeing Christmas Tree Shops’ bankruptcy proceedings described the recent store closings as a “complete collapse” during a hearing on Wednesday.
Reuters reported that US bankruptcy judge Thomas Horan converted the company’s bankruptcy into a Chapter 7 liquidation and ordered a court-appointed trustee to oversee the process to ensure employees receive a $1.17 million payment. dollars for hours worked during recent business closure sales. . During the hearing, a lawyer for Christmas Tree Shops said store closing sales fell $14 million below revenue projections.
“It’s clear to me that there has been a total collapse,” Horan said. “This case will not be carried out on the backs of the employees, that is simply unacceptable.”
The remaining 49 Christmas Tree Shops, including 18 in New England, closed last Saturday. There were eight locations in Massachusetts, four in Connecticut, two in Maine, two in New Hampshire, and one each in Rhode Island and Vermont.
The well-known chain filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy earlier this year, when only two Massachusetts stores made the initial list of store closures.
If you’ve lived in New England long enough, you know that Christmas Tree Shops are a staple, selling everything from cookware to outdoor furniture to toys and even food.
Christmas Tree Shops began on Cape Cod in the 1950s and is now headquartered in Middleboro, Massachusetts. As of the beginning of this year, the chain operated 82 stores in 20 states.
The company has been under new ownership since Bed Bath & Beyond sold them in 2020.
The Wall Street Journal said the company defaulted on a $45 million bankruptcy loan, which means that instead of closing just a small number of stores and seeking to emerge from bankruptcy this August, they now have to sell all of their remaining stores unless a buyer last minute can be found.
