Women's clothing chain Simply Fashion Stores Ltd. sought bankruptcy protection on Thursday with plans to liquidate, the latest in a long line of women's retailers to fall on hard times in the past year, Dow Jones Newswires reported on Friday. Simply Fashion, which has nearly 250 stores in 25 states, filed for chapter 11 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Miami. The family-run company, founded in 1991, built its business by taking advantage of fire sales in retail bankruptcies. Simply Fashion got its start after buying 100 store leases through the bankruptcy of a retailer that sold clothing for $6 or less. It picked up more leases from other bankruptcy cases in 1996 and 2005. In 2014, Simply Fashion began licensing the intellectual property from Dots, another retailer that went into bankruptcy, and reopened 60 Dots stores. The company owes $9 million in secured debt to two of its owners, Swapnil Shah and Shail Shah. Its unsecured debts include $400,000 owed to IberiaBank, $3.7 million in general unsecured claims and $9.9 million in unsecured debt owed to insiders.
