An 81-year-old family-owned regional home goods chain filed for bankruptcy last month.
Altmeyer Home Stores’ voluntary Chapter 7 bankruptcy court petition filing on July 11 seeks to liquidate the company’s operations. The Delmont, Pa.-based bed and bath retailer listed $2.0 million in assets with liabilities at $791,791.50.
The petition lodged in a bankruptcy court in the Western district of Pennsylvania said Altemeyer’s gross revenue for the year ended Dec. 21, 2020, was $6.0 million, and $5.5 million in 2019.
Instead of documenting Altemeyer’s top 20 unsecured creditors, the filing included a creditor list submitted last week. However, unsecured claims total $296,980, though the court document said there will be nothing left to pay these creditors once administrative expenses are paid.
Among the trade creditors were a number of factoring firms, including CIT Commercial Services Inc., Milberg Factors, Mohawk Factoring LLC and Rosenthal & Rosenthal. CIT was listed as the factor for Lintex Linens Inc. (owed $1,669.50), COBRA Trading ($9,436.50), Stylemaster ($18,432.60) and Kassatex ($32.00). Milberg was listed as the factor for Arlee ($783.00), Garland Carpet & Rug ($795.00) and Lichtenburg ($411.60). Vendor accounts for Mohawk Factoring LLC were not listed, but the amount owed was listed at $3,928.29. Telebrands, owed $2,220, was the only factored account listed for Rosenthal.
The court document also listed six stores in operation across Pennsylvania. Other creditors listed include some vendors, landlords, and service providers.
Robert C. Altmeyer, president, is the fourth generation to run the bankrupt chain, which made its name selling soft home goods such as bedding, window treatments, rugs and kitchen accessories. As of Tuesday, the company’s web site bedbathhome.com was in maintenance, with a message saying, “We’re aware of the technical issues on our site and we’re working to resolve them as quickly as we can.”.
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The filing did not give a reason for the bankruptcy, but many smaller retailers have found it hard to bounce back from Covid-19, which unleashed higher supply chain costs and delivery disruptions. Altmeyer’s bankruptcy filing follows ABC Carpet & Home’s Chapter 11 filing in the home sector in September last year, although the New York company’s troubles began prior to the pandemic. Two months later, ABC was acquired by a consortium of investors that includes Paulette Cole, the home retailer’s fourth-generation owner. Bed Bath & Beyond, meanwhile, is hoping a changing of the guard can get the home goods giant back on track after a much-lauded turnaround effort hasn’t quite delivered so far.
Industry watchers expect bankruptcies to pile up in the back half of the year as mounting distressed debt coupled with surging inflation and bloated inventories paint an ugly picture for retail.