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King State Coffee has filed for chapter 11 reorganization after months of business interruptions caused by a slow-moving construction project on Floribraska Avenue in Tampa, the Tampa Bay Business Journal reported. The popular Tampa brewery and coffee shop has between $1 million and $10 million in liabilities, including around $500,000 in estimated unsecured claims, according to court documents filed on Feb. 2. Owners Nate Young and Tim McTague said that they filed for bankruptcy protections to adjust the business in anticipation that disruption from the project will not be resolved until at least April, if not longer. They initially raised concerns about the lack of urgency around the construction with city officials in January and requested financial assistance to shore up operations. The city referred that claim to JVS Contracting Inc., the company leading the project, but a decision on whether or how much King State is owed has not been reached, Young and McTague said.

Department stores haven’t had an easy life lately, but store credit cards lightened the load. Now, that part of their business faces a new threat, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis. Two developments have analysts and experts watching: First is a proposed rule by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to cut the late fees that credit cards can charge consumers from as much as $41 per missed payment ($30 on the first missed payment) to $8. The agency is expected to issue a final ruling in the coming months, though legal challenges could end up impacting the timing and severity of the cuts. Second, delinquencies, which have already hit Macy’s, could soon impact other department stores. Credit cards are surprisingly important to department stores. While they account for a small piece of their top lines, they boost profits. Credit income accounted for about 49% and 44% of Macy’s and Nordstrom’s operating income in 2022, according to estimates from BofA Global Research equity analyst Lorraine Hutchinson. At Kohl’s, credit income well exceeded operating income, implying that the retailer would have swung to an operating loss if it hadn’t been for the credit-card business.

Petmate, the Platinum Equity-owned pet company, is nearing a deal to restructure its balance sheet and transfer control to its lenders after consumer demand for its products proved insufficient to satisfy its debt obligations, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The company has engaged the law firm Milbank to advise on the restructuring, which could take place either in or out of a bankruptcy court. A group of lenders is working with the law firm Gibson Dunn & Crutcher and is in discussions with Petmate over its proposed reorganization plan. Under the proposal, Petmate lenders would swap much of the roughly $750 million of debt for equity in the company. The deal would reduce Petmate’s debt by about $600 million. Platinum, the Beverly Hills, Calif.-based private-equity firm led by Tom Gores, last year provided Petmate with a loan to help buy the company some time to work out a restructuring plan. Petmate has been operating since 1959 and is known for its dog kennels, houses, toys, and other canine treats and accessories. Platinum acquired the company in 2021. Petmate subsequently faced earnings erosion as pet owners scaled back spending due to inflation and sought lower-cost options.

Former NFL player Marcus Burley has filed for individual chapter 11 bankruptcy protection after his Saladworks franchise failed, the Charlotte Business Journal reported. Burley filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Western District of North Carolina on Jan. 25. Burley’s filing states he has between $500,001 and $1 million in assets and at least $500,001 to $1 million in liabilities. He lists between one and 49 creditors. Liabilities included on a list of the top 20 creditors total $759,135. The two largest listed are Saladworks, which is owed $204,689, and a U.S. Small Business Administration Economic Injury Disaster Loan for $289,000. Burley, who played for the Seattle Seahawks and ended his career with the Houston Texans, talked with the Charlotte Business Journal in 2019 about his plan to bring Saladworks to Charlotte. He landed on a site for the customizable salad concept at 11318 N. Community House Road, in the Ballantyne Corners shopping center. Its opening coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic. Burley previously filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in November 2022 to try and save the business. That filing claimed estimated liabilities of $500,001 to $1 million and assets of between $0 and $50,000. It listed between one and 49 creditors.

Bankrupt pharmacy chain Rite Aid Corp. hired liquidators at the request of company lenders even as the retailer continues negotiating with at least two potential buyers, Bloomberg News reported. Two liquidation consultants — Hilco Merchant Resources and SB360 Capital Partners — will help the company run going-out-of-business sales for any stores to be shuttered. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Michael Kaplan gave the company permission to hire the liquidators during a court hearing held by video on Monday. Since it filed for bankruptcy in October, the company has been closing unprofitable stores while trying to find a buyer for those it hopes to keep open. So far, Rite Aid has rejected about 500 leases while under court protection, company lawyer Warren Usatine said in court on Monday. The company operated more than 2,100 stores when it began the restructuring case, according to court records. The liquidators were hired mainly to satisfy lenders who are financing Rite Aid’s bankruptcy case. The chain is still negotiating with at least two potential buyers on the scope of their bids. Last month, the company agreed to sell its insurance-related business Elixir to MedImpact Healthcare Systems for $575 million after no higher bid came in, court papers show.

Retail property owners are shedding the discounts and other concessions they offered struggling tenants during the depths of the pandemic, the latest sign that competition for retail real estate is intensifying, the Wall Street Journal reported. Many landlords slashed rent prices as they struggled to fill empty storefronts during the first year of the pandemic. Some felt compelled to accept a portion of monthly sales instead of a fixed rent amount from tenants whose businesses collapsed because of government-mandated closures and social distancing. These arrangements helped retailers stay afloat, and prevented landlords from losing valued tenants. Now, landlords are having a much easier time filling prime retail space and are far less likely to agree to these concessions, said Ed Coury, senior managing director at retail-brokerage firm RCS Real Estate Advisors. Landlords’ increasing leverage is another sign of retail real estate’s recent strength. Store openings outpaced closures for the second straight year in 2023 after years of net closures, according to research firm Coresight Research. Consumer spending remained resilient last year despite high inflation and recession concerns, and Americans’ views on the economy are improving at the start of 2024. This, coupled with scant new construction of retail real estate, leaves landlords optimistic that retailers will be vying for limited available space for the foreseeable future.

Rubio’s Coastal Grill is working with advisory firm Hilco Real Estate to address leases across its portfolio of restaurants, Bloomberg News reported. The company operates more than 150 restaurants, its website shows. Known for its fish tacos, the California-based chain is also getting assistance from advisory firm Carl Marks. The company’s earnings have been impacted in part by higher labor costs, they said. Rubio’s filed for chapter 11 protection in 2020, after ceasing operations in Colorado and Florida. Its pre-bankruptcy lender, Golub Capital, and equity holder Mill Road Capital Management took the keys of the reorganized company through a debt-for-equity swap. Golub provided an $8 million loan and Mill Road Capital provided $6 million of equity as part of the restructuring. The restaurant chain has locations throughout Arizona, California and Nevada, according to its website.

About two-thirds of home solar installers in California are struggling to generate enough sales to operate their businesses after the state slashed incentives for customers to buy rooftop panels, a trade group said, Bloomberg News reported. The California Solar & Storage Association found that 63% of its roughly 400 members reported significant cash flow issues, Bernadette Del Chiaro, executive director of the group, said Wednesday at the Intersolar North America conference in San Diego. Approximately 25 to 30 solar companies have either left the state or closed their business, Del Chiaro said. “We are worried about the next two months,” she said. “We think a lot more fallout may be coming.” Across the country, residential solar companies have struggled with slumping sales as higher interest rates make rooftop panels more expensive. In California, the biggest U.S. solar market, the problems are more acute after a change in regulations that scaled back the amount of money homeowners earn when they sell excess electricity to the grid. Installers are cutting jobs in the state, and bankruptcies have been mounting. Research firm Ohm Analytics, which tracks the solar marketplace, found sales dropping 67% to 85% for California’s private residential installers since the change went into effect in April.

Representatives for the owner and operator of the Tattered Cover bookstore chain have filed part of a reorganization plan for the business under the chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization process that began in October, though they asked for more time to offer more details on the plan, 9news.com reported. According to its Jan. 16 filing in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Colorado, Bended Page, LLC revealed it owes more than $3.1 million to creditors in unsecured claims — among them is almost $500,000 that former CEO Kwame Spearman says is owed to him. It also lists $820,000 in secured claims owed to five lenders, including $300,000 for its board of directors, per the filings. Interim CEO Brad Dempsey, who has a promissory note of $25,000, has opted to waive his claim.

U.S. consumers defied inflation to ring in a solid 2023 holiday shopping season that offered big discounts and flexible payments, displaying a strong appetite for beauty products and apparel, fueling a 3.8% rise in sales, National Retail Federation (NRF) data showed on Wednesday, Reuters reported. Holiday sales across both brick-and-mortar and online channels rose to $964.4 billion in the November through December period, falling in line with the NRF's prior expectation of a rise between 3% and 4%, in the range of $957.3 billion to $966.6 billion. The much-awaited report from the U.S. trade association comes as the latest sign that despite tighter shopping budgets, Americans dug into their pockets to splurge on items like electronics, apparel and health and personal care products. "Although inflation has been the biggest concern for households, the price of goods eased notably and was helped by a healthy labor market, underscoring a successful holiday season for retailers," NRF Chief Economist Jack Kleinhenz said.