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Phoenix-based U-Haul International Inc., which operates more than 1,500 self-storage facilities across North America, is in the process of acquiring 13 former Kmart and Sears retail locations it intends to convert to self-storage and truck-rental facilities, InsideSelfStorage.com reported. Through affiliate AMERCO Real Estate Co., the company will spend $62 million on 12 Kmart properties in 10 states and a single Sears store in Fairbanks, Alaska. The move is in line with U-Haul’s corporate “adaptive reuse” policy to repurpose vacant commercial buildings. The company has converted or is in the process of transforming several properties in multiple states, including several Kmarts and a former JCPenney store. It has nine other former Kmart projects in the works. It’s not clear whether U-Haul will go after Sears properties with the same vigor. The retailer filed for bankruptcy protection in October and plans to sell 505 stores, according to <em>Fortune</em> magazine. U-Haul parent company AMERCO continues to have a healthy outlook on self-storage, with CEO Joe Schoen characterizing the industry’s long-term prospects as “good” during its third-quarter earnings call with financial analysts. 

Retailer Ace Hardware Corp. and investment firm Centerbridge Partners LP are together eyeing an offer for bankrupt Sears Holdings Corp.’s home services division that would compete with an expected bid from Chairman Eddie Lampert, Reuters reported. Wednesday is the deadline for initial offers in a bankruptcy auction for the home services business, the largest U.S. appliance repair provider, and other Sears assets, according to a November letter from the company’s bankers to prospective bidders. The group eyeing the home services division has studied a possible bid for weeks, though there is no guarantee an offer will materialize. Sears is also negotiating with Lampert’s hedge fund, ESL Investments Inc., on a potential deal to acquire stores and businesses that would aim to keep the 125-year-old retailer operating as a going concern, according to court papers and people familiar with the discussions.

LuLaRoe LLC’s primary clothing supplier sued the leggings company over $49 million in unpaid bills and accused its top executives of looting its assets to buy exotic cars, private planes and real estate, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The Long Beach, Calif., supplier, Providence Industries LLC, said on Thursday that LuLaRoe hadn’t paid its bills for seven months while its principals, Mark and DeAnne Stidham “lavished themselves with luxurious lifestyles” by misappropriating money belonging to creditors. LuLaRoe, known for its brightly patterned leggings, drew tens of thousands of retail salespeople with its message of financial empowerment and community. But more than a dozen lawsuits seeking class-action status have piled up against the company, some alleging it is essentially a pyramid scheme run at the expense of its individual apparel sellers. LuLaRoe has previously denied the allegations. The complaint filed Thursday in Riverside County, Calif., Superior Court said Providence believes LuLaRoe is insolvent, based on its nonpayment of debts to numerous vendors and the numerous lawsuits pending against it.

Beauty and home products retailer Crabtree & Evelyn Canada Inc. is closing its stores and has filed for bankruptcy protection, the Canadian Press reported. In Quebec court filings under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, the company says that it plans to begin liquidating inventory, so it can distribute the proceeds to creditors. The company employs 123 full- and part-time employees in Canada and operates 19 stores, including 11 in Ontario, six in B.C. and one each in Alberta and Quebec. The company says it has experienced "significant losses," which it attributed to changing consumer demand, the rise of e-commerce and long-term declines in traditional retail traffic.

Neiman Marcus Group Ltd. ended nearly a month of talks with its lenders and bondholders with no deal to extend debt maturing in the next two to three years, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The luxury retailer, however, still has time to try to convince creditors to extend $4.7 billion in debt coming due in 2020 and 2021, the people said. One sticking point in the talks was the company’s recent asset shuffling involving MyTheresa, the valuable international e-commerce business that was transferred to Neiman’s parent company. Lenders and bondholders wanted the company to offer either equity or collateral in MyTheresa in exchange for pushing out the debt maturities. In September, Neiman Marcus transferred MyTheresa to its parent company Neiman Marcus Group Inc., a move that pressured the company’s bonds because it weakened bondholders’ claims on the unit.

Employees of Sears Holdings Corp., inspired by the hardship fund for workers affected by the collapse of Toys “R” Us Inc., are asking Chairman Eddie Lampert and the firms involved in the chain’s bankruptcy to preserve jobs and stores as well as guarantee severance pay and pensions, Bloomberg reported. “While we understand that Sears and Kmart must make changes to survive, we do not believe it is fair that financial firms stand to profit from Sears’s bankruptcy while employees like us are asked to sacrifice,” the workers said in a letter addressed to Lampert. It was signed by 62 current and former employees. Sears says it has no plans to liquidate after filing for chapter 11 protection in October, but it has been closing stores and cutting jobs as part of that process. It’s still working to keep several hundred outlets alive as part of Lampert’s plan to buy the company out of bankruptcy. Sears has lost billions of dollars since Lampert combined the Hoffman Estates, Ill.-based company with Kmart in 2005.

Performance Bicycle, the Chapel Hill-based retailer, won’t close any of its North Carolina stores after its parent company filed for bankruptcy protection earlier this month, the Charlotte News & Observer reported. The retailer is closing around 40 stores total as it goes through chapter 11 bankruptcy. Advanced Sports Enterprises, the Philadelphia company that bought Performance Bicycle just a little more than two years ago, filed for bankruptcy protection on Nov. 16. The company said it took that action “to restructure and better position itself for future success,” according to a release. Advanced Sports has more than $100 million in debt, according to its bankruptcy filings.

Sears Holdings Corp. is considering offers from liquidators that would result in the closure of all its stores while Chairman Edward Lampert and Cyrus Capital Partners prepare a bid that would keep the bankrupt retailer in business, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Lampert, who believes a slimmed-down Sears can emerge from bankruptcy, and Cyrus are expected to make an offer for roughly 500 of Sears’s best-performing stores. The company’s advisers, however, have contacted a number of liquidation firms seeking offers to shut down Sears’s stores and sell off the company’s merchandise in case the takeover offer falls apart. Lampert’s hedge fund, ESL Investments Inc., and Cyrus are expected to place a credit bid, meaning they would forgive some Sears debt in return for control of the company. However, that offer would likely include cash as well as the forgiveness of debt, according to sources. Bids are due next month and a decision on the sale is expected early in the new year. Read more. 

In related news, Sears is identifying 505 stores and leases that would be sold as a group early next year in an attempt to keep the brand alive, the Dallas Morning News reported. The 132-year-old retailer said that it is reducing debt and operating costs through its court-supervised reorganization, but it also needs help from shopping center owners. Sears is asking landlords for rent reductions to help it keep profitable stores open. It's not clear what will happen to stores that are open but not on the sale list. Sears has already received bankruptcy court approval to close 190 stores. Read more.

A federal appeals court on Tuesday revived for a second time a 11-year-old defamation lawsuit by bedding retailer Mattress Firm Inc against adjustable bed maker Sleep Number Corp., Reuters reported. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit said that a lower court judge misinterpreted New York law in dismissing claims first brought in March 2007 by Sleepy’s, now part of Mattress Firm, against Select Comfort, renamed Sleep Number last November. Mattress Firm, part of South Africa’s Steinhoff International Holdings NV, emerged from chapter 11 bankruptcy protection last week. The case concerned whether Select Comfort violated a 2005 contract that let Sleepy’s sell Select Comfort’s wood framed “Personal Preference” beds, while Select Comfort sold its plastic-and-polymer framed “Core” beds in its own stores. Sleepy’s sued after “secret” shoppers it hired to visit Select Comfort stores reported that salespeople disparaged the quality and comfort of Personal Preference beds, whose sales were poor, and said Sleepy’s offered inferior warranties. U.S. District Judge Joanna Seybert in Central Islip, New York dismissed the case in Sept. 2015, saying that the alleged disparagements were not “published to a third party” under New York law because only Sleepy’s secret shoppers heard them.

One of Sears Holdings Corp.’s largest creditors offered the bankrupt retailer more than $80 million in hopes of salvaging a bad credit-insurance bet, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Cyrus Capital Partners LP outbid other hedge funds in an unusual auction for internal loan claims among different Sears subsidiaries. Sears put these intercompany loans up for sale before the Thanksgiving holiday last week but hasn’t publicly announced which bids, if any, it would accept. The potential sale could provide desperately needed cash for the retailer’s restructuring efforts as it tries to save hundreds of its best-performing stores from liquidation. A deal with Cyrus would require approval from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in White Plains, N.Y., where the chain sought protection from creditors last month. Read more. 

In related news, Sears Holdings Corp. won court approval yesterday for $350 million in critical bankruptcy financing that will keep the 125-year-old retailer operating through the holidays while it attempts to reorganize, Reuters reported. Sears reached the deal with Cyrus Capital Partners LP for the financing just before a hearing began in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York on the retailer’s debtor-in-possession financing arrangements. Cyrus’ loan replaced a similar deal Sears reached earlier this month with Great American Capital Partners, a financial firm affiliated with liquidation specialist Great American Group and financial services firm B. Riley Financial Inc. Cyrus offered better terms to Sears, according to sources. Read more.