Levitz Furniture Corp. (561-994-6006) plans to close its store in Bakersfield, CA as part of a restructuring plan announced recently.  The company also plans to close a store in Reading, PA, and all four of its stores in the Boston, MA market.  Additionally, the company plans to relocate warehouse-showrooms operating in Southington, CT and Concord, CT during October and November.

 

Lawlor’s Sporting Goods (402-421-7788) closed its store located on Davenport Street in Lincoln, NE.  No other closing are scheduled for area stores.

 

DIY Home Warehouse Inc. (216-328-5100) is closing two stores in OH, one located on Tallmadge Avenue in Akron and another located in the Cleveland suburb of North Randall.  The closings leave the company with nine stores operating, all in northeast OH.  Company officials are considering some sort of redevelopment for the Akron location.

 

Stage Stores  is offering 107 leases in 30 states in conjunction with its decision to close more than 100 stores chainwide.  Keen Realty (516-482-2700) and Hilco Real Estate Services (847-501-6185) have been retained to oversee the disposal of the leases.  The store sites range in size from 5,000 sq.ft. to 35,000 sq.ft., with the average size being 20,000 sq.ft.  Rents start as low as $1.50 psf.   Lease densities are headed by 23 leases in TX, followed by eight leases in MS, seven leases in LA and MN, and six leases in KS and SD.

 

Heilig-Meyers (804-784-7800) announced plans to close as many as 302 stores in 29 states nationwide.  The company’s 57 RoomStore locations and three Homemakers locations will not be affected by the closings.  The company is seeking bankruptcy court approval to conduct liquidation sales at the closing stores in the coming two months.  After the closings are complete, the company will operate 569 stores nationwide.

 

Albertson’s (208-385-6200), which entered the Chattanooga, TN market only two years ago by acquiring four FoodMax stores, closed the final two of those stores last month.  The chain never mustered more than a 6% market share in the area, but continues expansion in the TN markets of Nashville and Memphis.

 

Blockbuster Video (770-858-5500) closed two video stores in Long Beach, CA during the Summer.  A 7,200 sq.ft. store located on East Termino Avenue was replaced by competitor Hollywood Video, and a 6,500 sq.ft. store located on Los Coyotes Diagonal closed due to the opening of a 3,538 sq.ft. store less than a mile away on Spring Street.

 

Big Party (617-323-0822) is planning close a store on Quaker Lane in Providence, RI as part of its bankruptcy proceedings.   Three other company stores are slated to close in FL.  Additionally, the company sold stores in Cranston, East Providence, North Providence, Attleboro, Bellingham and North Dartmouth, RI to iParty Corp.  The new owner has not indicated that any of those stores will be closed.  In total, 21 Big Party stores will close nationwide, and the remaining 33 will be purchased by a joint venture composed of Hilco Merchant Resources, The Ozer Group and iParty Corp.  Those stores are expected to be renamed iParty.com in the near future.