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A group of lenders to bankrupt David’s Bridal Inc. is trying to “extract a last-minute fee concession” from Evercore Group LLC just as the retailer’s time in chapter 11 is about to end, the investment bank says, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Earlier this month Oaktree Capital Management LP, Courage Capital Management LLC, AlbaCore Capital LLP and Deutsche Bank AG told the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., that they objected to “excessive” fees that Evercore is expected to get for its work in the wedding gown retailer’s reorganization. The creditor group, which holds more than half of David’s $481.2 million in term loans, said the $13.1 million that Evercore is set to receive should be halved to $6.5 million. Among other things, the lenders said that Evercore shouldn’t be able to “double dip” by getting a fee both for David’s bankruptcy financing as well as for the financing that the retailer has lined up for its exit from chapter 11.

Toys “R” Us has closed around 800 stores this year, more than any other U.S. retailer. Many of these closed properties have become hot commodities on the open market, the Wall Street Journal reported. The toy retailer in March moved to liquidate all its U.S. holdings after a failed restructuring. Landlords, discount merchants and other retailers have gobbled up the vacated properties during the last few months. Sales include owned properties and leases, and some tenants have already moved in. Toys “R” Us properties have generated greater demand than other recent retail bankruptcies, like Hhgregg Inc. and Bon-Ton Stores Inc., in part because Toys “R” Us buildings have longer leases with rents considered cheap by today’s standards. “Many Toys ‘R’ Us leases have significant remaining term at rents that are well below market,” said real-estate research firm Green Street Advisors in a recent note. There is also strong demand for the former toy-store properties because their variety of sizes and configurations make them suitable for everything from health-care operators to auto dealers.

Specialty gift retailer Things Remembered Inc. has hired financial advisers less than two years after a debt restructuring, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Berkeley Research Group Inc. and Stifel Financial Corp.’s restructuring advisory arm, Miller Buckfire & Co., have been engaged to evaluate the company’s operations and another debt restructuring. Although discussions are still ongoing and strategic options are being evaluated, a bankruptcy filing may occur in early 2019. Although Things Remembered went through a debt restructuring in 2016, the troubled retailer is still in need of cutting more debt and likely needs to close stores, the people added. The company has less than 400 stores. Things Remembered had hired FTI Consulting Inc. in 2016 prior to the debt restructuring. Soon thereafter, a group of FTI’s bankers left the firm for BRG, and continue to work with Things Remembered. The Highland Heights, Ohio-based company had completed a debt-for-equity swap that left it in the hands of its lenders in the summer of 2016. At the time Things Remembered had suffered from consecutive quarters of declining sales and was weighed down by a $178 million debt load that stemmed from a leveraged buyout in 2012 by private-equity firm Madison Dearborn Partners.

Shoppers delivered the strongest holiday sales increase for U.S. retailers in six years, according to early data, the Wall Street Journal reported. Total U.S. retail sales, excluding automobiles, rose 5.1 percent between Nov. 1 and Dec. 24 from a year earlier, according to Mastercard SpendingPulse, which tracks both online and in-store spending with all forms of payment. Overall, U.S. consumers spent over $850 billion this holiday season, according to Mastercard. Sales have been generally strong throughout the holiday season, led by increases in online shopping. Retailers entered the holidays with momentum as online sales jumped 26.4 percent from a year earlier between the Wednesday before Thanksgiving through Black Friday, one sign of an early buying surge, according to Adobe Analytics.

Secondary trading prices on luxury retailer Neiman Marcus’ loan and bond dipped this week as the company faces creditors that are pushing back on a potential agreement to restructure debt maturing in 2020 and 2021, Reuters reported. Neiman Marcus’ $2.94 billion term loan B, maturing in October 2020, was quoted between 83.5-84.5 by a secondary trader that follows the company, while an investor spotted the term loan between 84-85, down from a peak of 93.84 in mid-September. The company’s bond debt, due in October 2021 with an 8 percent coupon, fell to roughly 40 cents on the dollar yesterday, compared to more than 60 cents at its peak in November, the investor added. Asset manager Ares Management and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) took over Neiman Marcus in 2013, and despite the retailer increasing revenues this year, its worrisome debt level comes amid a wider struggle that has left brick and mortar retailers vulnerable to heightened competition from emerging discount and online-only stores. Saddled with approximately $4.7 billion in debt due in 2020 and 2021, Neiman Marcus agitated creditors in September when it shifted international e-commerce unit MyTheresa to parent company Neiman Marcus Group from its original designation as a subsidiary. Neiman Marcus has enjoyed increased sales this year from its online offering, but MyTheresa accounts for just 7 percent of the company’s revenue.

The void left by Toys “R” Us hit shoppers hardest this week, as they hunt for hot gifts during the year’s busiest days for toy sales and retailers scramble to keep shelves stocked, the Wall Street Journal reported. About 10 percent of annual U.S. toy sales, or nearly $3 billion, occur in the week before Christmas, according to the research firm NPD Group Inc., and this year the industry is expected to be strained by the absence of around 800 Toys “R” Us stores, which liquidated over the summer. The big-box toy retailer was most valuable in the final days of the season, when it kept its stores stocked with toys, including many of the top-selling items, analysts and toy companies said. Retailers have picked up some of the slack this year with added floor space to sell toys and deeper inventories. Some have opened pop-up stores for the holiday season to capture some of the displaced sales from Toys “R” Us, which logged more than $1.4 billion in sales last December.

Bankers meeting to discuss financing for Sears Holdings Corp.’s impending bankruptcy erupted in disbelief when a headline crossed their smartphone screens. A breaking news report said that the bankers, gathered on Oct. 11 at the Manhattan offices of law firm Weil Gotshal & Manges, were pushing to liquidate the American retail icon instead of saving it with a new loan, Bloomberg News reported. The implications were clear, according to people familiar with the meeting: Keep Sears alive, or you’ll be publicly blamed for the 50,000 job losses that would come with its demise. As far as the bankers knew, the report wasn’t true, sources said. But even today, as they face a deadline in two weeks to extend more loans, the bankers can’t escape factoring in the social cost of their decision. In private meetings, representatives for Sears and related businesses have repeated the message, according to the sources. It’s also come up in Sears public comments and former Chief Executive Officer Eddie Lampert’s Dec. 6 bid to buy the company. Robert Riecker, the retail chain’s chief financial officer, made the same point on the day of the company’s October bankruptcy filing.

Children’s retailer Gymboree Group Inc. is shopping for a bankruptcy loan as it prepares for a second chapter 11 filing in less than two years, the Wall Street Journal reported. The bankruptcy filing, which could come as soon as early January, would allow the struggling children’s apparel retailer to close most of its stores. However, the company is seeking a bankruptcy loan that would give it the opportunity to keep some of its stores open while it searches for a buyer. In chapter 11, Gymboree would likely close a majority of its 900 stores, but the retailer has earmarked more than 100 stores — namely its well-performing Janie & Jack outlets — to put up for sale. The negotiations remain fluid and may not result in a bankruptcy filing, according to sources. Gymboree has hired Stifel Financial Corp.’s restructuring advisory arm, Miller Buckfire & Co., which is searching for a buyer for the subset of stores.

Home furnishing retailer Pier 1 Imports Inc. said yesterday that its Chief Executive Officer Alasdair James has stepped down and the company is looking at various options to turn around its business, Reuters reported. The seller of wicker chairs and scented candles said yesterday that it has retained Credit Suisse to help evaluate a full range of strategic alternatives, but warned that it may not result in a sale. Pier 1, which is struggling to keep up with competing home furnishing companies, including Williams-Sonoma, said Cheryl Bachelder has been appointed interim CEO, effective immediately. In April, former CEO James detailed a three-year turnaround plan called “A New Day”, aimed at reducing store clutter and inventory to drive revenue growth at the struggling retailer.

A legal dispute over the handling of insurance contracts on Sears Holdings Corp.’s debt is putting the effectiveness of such instruments in doubt and raising questions about fairness in the bankruptcy process, the Wall Street Journal reported. Holders of credit-default swaps which insured against Sears’s collapse contend a debt auction related to the swaps didn’t generate top dollar for Sears and its creditors as required in bankruptcy. Instead, these investors say in court filings, the auction rewarded a hedge fund that had sold credit insurance on the company: Cyrus Capital Partners, which is allied with Edward S. Lampert, who has run Sears for 13 years. The retailer’s debt auction is being challenged in bankruptcy court; a hearing on the dispute is scheduled for today in White Plains, N.Y.