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Abercrombie & Fitch Co. terminated talks with potential acquirers, dashing hopes of investors who saw a takeover as the best way to rescue a retailer struggling to rekindle its appeal with shoppers, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The move sent the shares down as much as 20 percent, to $9.77 in New York, the biggest intraday decline in more than 10 months. The announcement followed months of speculation that Abercrombie might be acquired by Express Inc. or American Eagle Outfitters Inc. The retailer was a mainstay of shopping malls and college fashion in the ’90s and early 2000s, but it’s lost much of its allure. The company also has been hit hard by a broader slowdown in mall traffic and the shift of shopping online. Chairman Arthur Martinez pledged “sound, aggressive action” to enhance shareholder value over the long term, according to a statement. The company pointed to solid comparable sales at its Hollister business and said it’s following through on measures “to position the Abercrombie brand for revitalized performance.”

Consultants who help store owners wring concessions from landlords are seeing brisk business these days, another ripple of the shifting retail landscape across the U.S. economy, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The rise of online shopping and changing consumer preferences are forcing retailers to rethink virtually all aspects of their operations. First on the list for many is real estate, which is typically the second-biggest cost, after payroll. As store owners scrutinize their store footprints, they are turning increasingly to professionals who can help them get better deals from landlords. A growing roster of retailers, including Bebe Stores Inc. and Pacific Sunwear of California Inc., are tapping lease-consulting firms to get landlords to agree to take less money. Landlords say they will make their own assessment by studying the tenant sales at the store, its rent-to-sale ratio and how that compares to the retailer’s national average and the national average of the industry.

Joe's Crab Shack owner Ignite Restaurant Group has officially filed a chapter 11 reorganization plan that confirms a California private equity group as its preferred bidder, intensifying a derisive court battle with Tilman Fertitta's restaurant empire, the Houston Chronicle reported on Friday. In the plan, Houston-based Ignite reaffirmed its intent to sell its restaurant chains, which also includes Brick House Tavern + Tap, to KRG Acquisitions Co. The company, an affiliate of a San Diego-based firm called Kelly Cos, agreed last month to pay $50 million for both brands. The bid sparked a controversy with Landry's, Tilman Fertitta's privately held restaurant and entertainment operation. The company in court filings offered $55 million for both restaurant chains and argued it should unseat KRG as the preferred bidder because its higher bid aligns with Ignite's obligation to secure the best sale price for its creditors.

Sears Holdings continued its steady drip of store closures on Friday with the announcement that it would close 35 more Kmart locations and eight Sears stores, USA Today reported. The department-store chain's troubles have included several rounds of store closures this year, now totaling more than 300. Although the iconic American department store chain still has more than 1,000 locations, Sears has buckled under pressure from online competitors, having failed to reinvent its traditional store experience. Sears' latest round of cuts comes less than a month after the most recent round, in which the company quietly announced plans to close 20 locations.

The vacancy rate for regional malls was 8.1 percent in Q2 2017, up from 7.9 percent in Q1, and up from 7.9 percent in Q2 2016, according to recent data from Reis, ABL Advisor reported on Friday. While vacancy rates appear to be climbing, they are down from a cycle peak of 9.4 percent in Q3 2011. For neighborhood and community malls (strip malls), the vacancy rate was 10.0 percent in Q2, up from 9.9 percent in Q1, and up from 9.8 percent in Q2 2016. For strip malls, the vacancy rate peaked at 11.1 percent in Q3 2011.

Sears Canada Inc. today sought court approval for its restructuring efforts, two weeks after the Canadian retailer filed for creditor protection, Reuters reported. The company also said that it would suspend payments to its suppliers, landlords and retirement benefits to its employees. Sears Canada said that it also sought court approval for a sale and investment solicitation process. The company set Oct. 4 as the deadline to obtain court approval of successful bids, while the company's sale and investment solicitation process has an expected completion date of Oct. 25.

U.S. denim retailer True Religion Apparel Inc. said today that it filed for bankruptcy protection and signed a restructuring agreement with a majority of its lenders, Reuters reported. True Religion, a company whose denims have gradually fallen out of style, filed for chapter 11 protection in the District of Delaware, and listed assets and liabilities in the range of $100 million to $500 million. The restructuring agreement with lenders, including TowerBrook Capital Partners, will slash the company's debt by over $350 million, it said in a statement. The denim retailer's financial struggles are due in part to consumer tastes shifting toward online shopping and away from the brick-and-mortar shops and department stores where the company's jeans have been primarily sold. True Religion said that it has secured post-petition debtor-in-possession financing from Citizens Bank for up to $60 million.

Manhattan luxury home retailer Gracious Home, which entered chapter 11 at the end of last year for the second time in a six-year period, has found someone to bring it back to life, the Commercial Observer reported on Friday. Tom Sullivan, the founder and former chairman of Lumber Liquidators, a specialty retailer of hardwood flooring, has been approved by the United States Bankruptcy Court of the Southern District of New York to buy the company. The $4 million deal is being finalized as of late-afternoon today, Gracious Home Chief Executive Officer Rob Morrison told Commercial Observer. Sullivan, also the founder of furniture retail store chain Cabinets to Go and clean energy business Proton OnSite, worked with Morrison at Lumber Liquidators, when they built the brand and took it public. “Morrison and Sullivan plan to now deploy a ‘Warby Parker’ strategy — to open a handful of retail stores in very select markets across the U.S., but meaningfully drive sales via the web,” a company spokeswoman sent in an email.

Sycamore Partners intends to split Staples Inc. into three to help fund its $6.9 billion purchase of the office-supply seller, in another sign of the challenges facing the retail industry, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The plan calls for Staples to be divided into three separately financed entities: U.S. retail, Canadian retail and corporate-supply businesses. The three groups will remain under the same corporate umbrella. The move is designed to make the leveraged buyout of Staples, announced Wednesday, an easier sell to bond and loan investors whose appetite for retail names has soured as the industry’s prospects have waned. Their appetite will be crucial to financing the deal, the largest LBO announced this year. UBS AG , Bank of America Corp. and other Wall Street banks plan to arrange bonds and loans backing only the Staples unit that distributes paper, pens and other supplies to large business and government customers.

Sprint Corp. used confidential information from its alliance with RadioShack Corp. to open competing mobile phone stores, dooming the comeback by the electronics retailer and destroying jobs, according to a lawsuit filed on Wednesday by RadioShack creditors, Reuters reported. RadioShack emerged from bankruptcy in 2015 with a deal to co-brand about 1,400 stores with Sprint, which was meant to help the telecoms provider better compete with larger rivals AT&T Corp and Verizon Communications Inc. However, by early 2017 RadioShack, owned by General Wireless, had returned to bankruptcy and is liquidating. The lawsuit filed in Delaware Superior Court by RadioShack's unsecured creditors’ committee says that Overland Park, Kansas-based Sprint breached its contract with RadioShack, and is seeking $500 million in damages.