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Brandless, a San Francisco-based e-commerce company that made and sold an assortment of "cruelty-free" products in beauty and personal care, household, baby and pet categories, has shut its doors less than three years after officially opening them in July 2017, Yahoo.com reported. The company cited a "fiercely competitive" retail market. As part of its shut-down, the company will reportedly lay off 70 employees, with 10 staying aboard to resolve outstanding orders and presumably figure out how to sell its remaining assets. The company's short run won't come as a complete surprise to industry watchers. In July of 2018, Brandless announced that SoftBank’s $100 billion Vision Fund had invested $240 million in the company in a deal that valued Brandless at a little over $500 million. 

Simon Property Group Inc. plans to take control of rival mall owner Taubman Centers Inc., the Wall Street Journal reported. Indianapolis-based Simon today said that it would pay $52.50 a share in cash for Taubman’s shares, giving it control over the Taubman subsidiary that owns all of that company’s interest in retail properties, the companies said Monday. The Taubman family will sell Simon about one-third of its ownership interest in Taubman and remain 20 percent owner in the operating subsidiary of its namesake real-estate firm. Simon will own 80 percent of the Taubman operating entity when the transaction is completed. The deal values Taubman at $3.21 billion, based on the number of shares outstanding as of late October. Taubman, based in Bloomfield Hills, Mich., owns, manages or leases out 26 malls in the U.S. and in Asia, including Cherry Creek Shopping Center in Denver and Twelve Oaks Mall located outside of Detroit. Simon owned or controlled a stake in 204 properties in the U.S. as of Sept. 30 last year, such as Dadeland Mall in Florida, Copley Place in Boston and outlet shopping centers.

Bryn & Dane’s, the Plymouth Meeting, Pa.-based mini-chain of healthful fast-casual cafes that sell wraps and smoothies, filed for bankruptcy protection to get out of the leases of two shuttered locations, founder Bryn Davis said, adding that it was business as usual at three remaining locations, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The voluntary petition, filed Jan. 29 in U.S. District Court, is seeking protection under chapter 11 of the Code listing assets and liabilities of $500,000 to $1 million. Davis owns 69.17 percent of the equity in Bryn & Dane’s Global, while 14 individuals and entities own the remainder, according to the filing. The filing followed by two weeks the abrupt closings of Bryn & Dane’s locations in Malvern and Center City Philadelphia which he said involved different business partners. Bryn & Dane’s current locations — in Horsham, Plymouth Meeting, and Bryn Mawr — are “operating normally and successfully," Davis said.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Kevin Gross gave Forever 21 the go-ahead on a tentative plan to sell itself to its biggest landlords — a deal that suppliers say will leave them bearing the brunt of the losses, Bloomberg News reported. The stalking-horse bid would see Simon Property Group Inc., Brookfield Property Partners LP and Authentic Brands Group LLC pay $81 million in cash for the fast-fashion retailer and assume a chunk of its debts. Counting the assumed liabilities, which include letters of credit, costs to cure defaults and trade debts, the deal is worth $290 million, Tyler Cowan of Lazard Ltd. said during a hearing in Delaware Tuesday. Lazard is serving as the retailer’s investment banker. This would still leave more than $100 million of vendor claims unpaid, said Jeffrey Waxman of Morris James LLP, which represents a group of suppliers. When the retailer filed bankruptcy in September, it owed suppliers $347 million, according to a court filing by vendors. The proposed sale is the best currently available for Forever 21, though additional potential buyers are still looking at the company, Cowan said. The company has been in default of its bankruptcy loan since before the start of this year, he said.

Macy’s Inc. plans to close 125 department stores over the next three years, an admission that a fifth of its locations cannot thrive as shoppers buy more online and make fewer trips to malls, the Wall Street Journal reported. The company is also cutting roughly 2,000 corporate jobs, or 10 percent of corporate and support staff, and closing several offices. It will abandon a dual headquarters in Cincinnati — a structure Macy’s has kept since 1994 when it was still one of the country’s biggest retailers — and put all headquarters roles in New York. Macy’s, which will keep running about 400 of its namesake stores, is ramping up its restructuring efforts after a yearslong slump. Cobbled together from various regional chains, the company has struggled even as it left the weakest malls and boosted spending on e-commerce. Once the backbone of America’s shopping malls, department-store chains like Macy’s, J.C. Penney and Sears have been losing customers to the convenience of Amazon.com Inc. and the discounts found at off-price chains like T.J. Maxx. Read more. (Subscription required.) 

Occupancy issues are at the heart of many significant retail cases, as detailed in the ABI publication Retail and Office Bankruptcy: Landlord/Tenant Rights, available at the ABI Store. 

Simon Property Group Inc. has held merger talks with rival U.S. shopping-mall operator Taubman Centers Inc., Bloomberg News reported. The real estate investment trusts have been holding on-and-off-again discussions since late last year. Talks between the companies stalled in recent days amid market volatility and it’s unclear if and when they will resume. The talks come as a wave of retail bankruptcies squeeze mall-oriented REITs, putting pressure on the industry to consolidate. The Bloomberg REIT Regional Mall Index has fallen about 30 percent in the past year through Monday, with Simon Property and Taubman Centers dropping 27 percent and 43 percent respectively over the same period. Simon has previously tried to purchase Taubman as well as the shopping center REIT Macerich Co., Bloomberg Intelligence REIT equity analyst Lindsay Dutch said in a research note Tuesday. A deal for Taubman may come down to price, she said.

Facing challenges in the retail industry and unable to refinance its debt, supermarket chain Earth Fare Inc. has begun closing its roughly 50 stores, becoming at least the third U.S. grocer in recent weeks to seek a buyer or shut down, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The Asheville, N.C.-based natural and organic goods merchant, which has been backed by private equity firm Oak Hill Capital, said that it is trying to sell its assets. But meanwhile it has alerted employees that it is closing its stores and is holding going-out-of-business sales. Earth Fare, which was founded in 1975 and operates in 10 Southeast, mid-Atlantic and Midwest states, said that its efforts in recent years to expand and to improve customer service haven’t been enough to overcome its problems. Early last year it said it expanded its executive team by hiring a chief medical officer. “While many of these initiatives improved the business, continued challenges in the retail industry impeded the company’s progress as well as its ability to refinance its debt. As a result, Earth Fare is not in a financial position to continue to operate,” the company said. That’s why Earth Fare has started the sale of inventory, as well as store fixtures, while trying to find potential buyers for its stores. Its landlords have included Kite Realty Group Trust and Regency Centers Corp., according to filings in recent months by the real estate businesses with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A group including two of Forever 21 Inc.’s biggest landlords has offered to buy the bankrupt retailer for $81 million, a fraction of what the international fashion pioneer was once worth, Bloomberg News reported. The consortium of Simon Property Group Inc., Brookfield Property Partners LP and Authentic Brands Group LLC is seeking to buy substantially all of the company’s assets, according to documents filed Sunday in federal bankruptcy court. The stalking-horse bid sets a minimum price for a proposed auction later this month. If no other bidders step forward, the consortium would be declared the winner. Plans envision an auction process with a sale hearing requested for Feb. 4 and approval of the winner no later than Feb. 11. The buyers have the right to close and wind down certain stores and conduct going-out-of-business sales, according to the new filing. They’re also entitled to a $4.65 million break-up fee under some circumstances if the sale isn’t completed.

Bankrupt grocery chain Lucky’s Market won court approval to use the cash of majority shareholder and secured lender Kroger Co. to continue to close or try to sell about three dozen stores, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The Niwot, Colo.-based chain filed for chapter 11 on Monday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., listing about $600 million in liabilities. Kroger owns more than half of Lucky’s and is owed more than $300 million under a secured loan. Lucky’s made its debut in court Tuesday in front of Judge John Dorsey, saying that it is closing 32 stores and keeping seven locations open with the hope of selling them. It also said that rival chains Aldi Inc. and Publix Super Markets Inc. each were planning to buy about a half a dozen of their sites, subject to a court-supervised auction process. Heading into bankruptcy, Lucky’s already had an agreement with Aldi to buy certain store leases. Lucky’s also said it was completing the terms of a sale for its seven open stores, as well as another deal for other store locations.

A bankruptcy judge has authorized the operator of casual restaurant chains Village Inn and Bakers Square to start tapping a $20 million chapter 11 loan to fund the business as it explores a potential financial restructuring, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The loan to restaurant operator American Blue Ribbon Holdings LLC will keep the lights on as the Nashville, Tenn.-based company begins chapter 11. Judge Laurie Selber Silverstein of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., authorized Blue Ribbon to draw up to $10 million from the loan, which is being provided by the company’s majority owner, Cannae Holdings Inc. The court will consider authorizing use of the rest of the loan at a later hearing, which is common in chapter 11. Jonathan M. Weiss, a bankruptcy lawyer representing Blue Ribbon, said during a court hearing that the restaurant operator planned its chapter 11 filing after its direct corporate parent, which isn’t part of the bankruptcy, declined to continue funding the business. The company pivoted to bankruptcy so the business could gain access to debtor-in-possession financing to keep funding the business, Mr. Weiss said. The company filed for chapter 11 on Monday. Blue Ribbon will now explore its strategic alternatives in chapter 11, Weiss said. The company closed 33 Village Inn and Bakers Square locations and laid off about 1,100 employees before filing for chapter 11, court papers say.