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Anonymous ID: 5068b2 May 3, 2020, 5:49 p.m. No.9018871   🗄️.is 🔗kun

SAM685 G5 ws from JBA-this AC started at Hilton Head Int'l yesterday and stopped at Myrtle Beach and in at JBA late last night

 

Dutch Coast Guard CG82 Dash 8 out of Willemstad, Curacao again-sw of Aruba

Anonymous ID: 5068b2 May 3, 2020, 6:07 p.m. No.9019108   🗄️.is 🔗kun

J. Crew Likely to File for Bankruptcy in Virus’s First Big Retail Casualty

 

J. Crew has been in negotiations with lenders on how to handle its debts for weeks, according to two people with knowledge of the situation, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because discussions were confidential. The retailer’s board was expected to confer on Sunday evening and J. Crew could file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as soon as Monday, the people said. The company on Sunday did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

 

The pandemic has been disastrous for the already weakened retail industry. In March, sales of clothing and accessories fell by more than half. The numbers for April are expected to only be worse, because many stores were open for at least some of March (e-commerce, a relatively small contributor to total sales for most store chains, is not enough to make up for the closures).

 

Retailers have furloughed employees, slashed executive salaries and hoarded cash in a desperate attempt to survive until the shutdowns are lifted. And there is widespread acknowledgment that J. Crew, which also owns the popular millennial denim brand Madewell, is not likely to be the only retailer to face the brink.

 

J. Crew was carrying a debt burden of $1.7 billion based on a leveraged buyout in 2011 by two private-equity firms — TPG Capital and Leonard Green & Partners — even before the coronavirus brought clothing sales to a near-halt in the 182 stores, 140 Madewells and 170 outlets it was running as of early March. And it had struggled to adapt to changing consumer tastes.

 

But in recent months it seemed to be making strides toward a more viable future. The company recently hired a new chief executive and was planning an initial public offering of Madewell this spring in order to pay down some of the debt and rehabilitate the J. Crew brand.

 

The coronavirus scuttled those plans and eventually toppled the company.

 

J. Crew started life in 1947 as a family-run low-priced clothing line for women called Popular Club Plan, and in 1983 it was renamed and reinvented as a catalog company selling turtleneck tops and crewneck sweaters in “Preppy Handbook” shades. It made the leap to household name and 21st century fashion fairy tale in late October 2008 when Mrs. Obama, whose husband was then the Democratic candidate for president, appeared on “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno.” This was just days after it had been revealed that Sarah Palin, the Republican candidate for vice president, had been given a costly wardrobe makeover by her party. “I want to ask you about your wardrobe,” Mr. Leno said to Mrs. Obama. “I’m guessing about 60 grand? Sixty, 70 thousand for that outfit?”

 

“Actually, this is a J. Crew ensemble,” Mrs. Obama replied, referring to her $148 yellow pencil skirt, $148 yellow and brown print tank top and $118 matching yellow cardigan. “Ladies, we know J. Crew. You can get some good stuff online!”

 

It was a priceless marketing moment. After that, everyone knew J. Crew, which seemed to embody the high/low mix-and-match trend of the moment.

https://twnews.us/us-news/j-crew-likely-to-file-for-bankruptcy-in-virus-s-first-big-retail-casualty