Amid Bankruptcy Rumors, Gordmans Is Still Opening Stores
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Despite recent rumors that Stage Stores, Inc. is preparing to file for Chapter 11 protection, the company is planning grand openings for 133 new Gordmans locations throughout the month of March.
Stage Stores has previously detailed plans to transition to an off-price model by turning all of its stores, including Bealls and Goody’s locations, into Gordmans stores. As a potential move in that direction, various new Gordmans locations will be opening throughout March in three batches. According to Gordmans’ website, the first batch of grand openings will see 35 new Gordmans stores open across West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, Maryland and Michigan on March 3. On March 17, 44 new stores will open across a wider range of cities, including 17 new stores in Virginia alone. Gordmans will round out the month with 44 new openings on March 31, with the highest amount of openings in North Carolina and Tennessee.
Stage Stores President and CEO Michael Glazer said in a recent press release that the company “[remains] confident that our off-price strategy will lead to profitable growth in the future.” Back in January, Stage Stores released its preliminary holiday 2019 financial results, which demonstrated a year over year comparable sales increase of 1.4%.
Last week, however, a Retail Dive report indicated that Stage Stores reportedly laid off corporate staff and planned to close over 60 current and 10 soon-to-be Gordmans stores amid financial struggles. The Wall Street Journal also recently reported that Stage Stores is restructuring financially and will likely file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
The company will report its financial results for the 2019 fiscal year on March 5 and expects earnings to be $25 million to $30 million below the low end of its previously announced guidance range. (In November, it predicted fiscal year 2019 net losses between $65 million and $60 million, or adjusted net losses of $40 million to $35 million.)
Stage Stores did not immediately respond to FN’s request for comment.
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