MIDDLEBORO, Mass. — Massachusetts-based Christmas Tree Shops is preparing for liquidation sales at all of its stores after reportedly defaulting on a loan that funds its bankruptcy.
The discount home-goods retailer, which had more than 80 locations in 20 states, announced in May that it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy with plans to close a small number of underperforming stores.
Christmas Tree Shops took out a $45 million bankruptcy loan but creditors moved to terminate the loan after the company defaulted on the terms, in part due to worsening revenues, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Stakeholders of the company have agreed to liquidate the remaining roughly 70 stores unless a buyer emerges in the near future, according to court filings obtained by the Journal.
The first Christmas Tree Shops location was opened in 1970 in Yarmouth Port on Cape Cod. Over the ensuing decades, the brand expanded across the United States.
Bed Bath and Beyond owned and operated the stores from 2003 to 2020 before selling all the locations to Middleboro-based Handil Holdings.
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