Efforts by Shopko Stores to find a buyer have stalled, and the Midwestern retailer is making preparations for a bankruptcy filing, Bloomberg reported. The general merchandise chain, owned by Sun Capital Partners Inc., could still reach agreement on an out-of-court restructuring, but that scenario looks increasingly unlikely. The situation remains fluid, the sources said, with no guarantee that a court filing will happen at all, or that it will include a pre-negotiated plan to save the company. It would be the second trip to bankruptcy court in as many years for a Sun-owned retailer. Gordmans Stores Inc., an Omaha, Neb.-based department-store chain, went bankrupt in March 2017 with a plan to liquidate, a casualty of slowing mall traffic and online rivals such as Amazon.com Inc. Shopko runs 363 stores in 24 states under various formats, according to its website. Pharmacist James Ruben opened the first store in 1962, about the same time that Walmart Inc. and Target Corp. went into business, and Shopko went public in 1991.
