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Fairway emerged from bankruptcy a little more than two months after the struggling grocer filed for chapter 11 protection, Crain’s New York Business reported today. The company succeeded in persuading lenders to cut Fairway’s borrowings in half in exchange for all the equity. The reorganized company also has a new board of directors that includes a former senior Whole Foods executive and the president of Rite Aid. Fairway is effectively swapping one private-equity owner for another: A consortium that includes Blackstone Group’s GSO Capital Partners is replacing Sterling Investment Partners. In 2007, Connecticut-based Sterling acquired Fairway for $150 million and borrowed heavily in an effort to transform the Manhattan-based grocery into a major regional supermarket chain. But that strategy hit the rocks after Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s moved into New York. Fairway never posted a profitable quarter after going public in 2013, and interest payments on its $280 million in debt devoured resources. Last year, the company tried to sell itself to more than 60 potential buyers, but there were no takers.

Retail store closings are at their highest level since 2010 — and the hemorrhaging has only just begun, the New York Post reported on Saturday. Japanese fast-fashion store Uniqlo has quietly shuttered five of its U.S. locations since January. Uniqlo’s closures follow a slew of announcements so far this year by fashion stalwarts, from Ralph Lauren to Macy’s, that they’re shuttering dozens of stores. “So many retailers are struggling,” said Garrick Brown, vice president of retail research, Americas, at Cushman & Wakefield. “You are going to hear, by end of summer, a whole lot more closure announcements.” As traditional clothing stores falter, Amazon is rising. The online behemoth has expanded its fashion assortment, trained shoppers to expect next- or same-day delivery, and is now poised to become America’s largest apparel retailer.

Liquidating retailer USA Discounters will offer debt relief to settle litigation accusing it of scamming its Colorado customers, including military service members, Dow Jones Newswires reported on Friday. The defunct retailer, accused in multiple states of unfair financing terms and improper debt-collection efforts, particularly against military members, is asking the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., to authorize a settlement agreement with the state of Colorado. USA Discounters said that the settlement, negotiated "on the eve of trial," marks a significant step forward in its bid to wrap up its bankruptcy liquidation. Through its USA Living and Fletcher's Jewelers stores, USA Discounters sold furniture, appliances, electronics, jewelry and other products from stores located near military bases, often financing such purchases with its own credit program. The company's business practices with regard to its military customers have come under fire in the past few years, thanks to government actions — including a $50,000 fine and an order to pay $350,000 in restitution.

The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Co. has asked a judge to extend its bankruptcy through 2017 to give it more time to work out a plan to distribute nearly $1 billion in proceeds from its liquidation to creditors, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday. In court papers filed on Thursday with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in White Plains, N.Y., lawyers for the grocery chain, known as A&P, asked Judge Robert Drain to extend its exclusivity period through Jan. 19, 2017. A&P filed for chapter 11 protection for a second time last summer with plans to liquidate. Since then, the company said on Thursday, a string of auctions and sales of its stores and other assets have garnered about $910 million and saved more than 18,000 jobs.

Dick's Sporting Goods Inc., the largest U.S. sporting goods retailer, said yesterday that it was the successful bidder in the auction for the intellectual property of bankrupt competitor Sports Authority with a bid of $15 million, Reuters reported today. Dick's shares jumped as much as 6 percent after Reuters first reported the development earlier, which ensures Dick's will no longer be competing against the Sports Authority brand. Dick's shares closed up 4.1 percent at $45.06. Dick's and Sports Authority still have to finalize paperwork on the deal, and a U.S. bankruptcy court judge has to approve it, the company said in a regulatory filing. The bankruptcy court's hearing to consider approval of the deal is scheduled for July 15. The intellectual property of Sports Authority includes its e-commerce website, SportsAuthority.com, a loyalty program with 28.5 million members, and a list consisting of 114 million customer files, according to an advertisement for the intellectual property auction. Dick's also said that it plans to take over the leases for 31 Sports Authority stores for an additional $8 million.

Southern Season Inc., the North Carolina-based specialty food store that closed its Libbie Mill-Midtown store in Henrico County in April, has filed for chapter 11 protection, the <em>Richmond Times Dispatch</em> reported on Sunday. The Chapel Hill, N.C., specialty food retailer sought bankruptcy protection on Friday as it reorganizes its business to focus on smaller stores and growing online sales. Southern Season is in the midst of closing its store in Mount Pleasant, S.C., near Charleston, and is scrapping expansion plans in Atlanta as it focuses on smaller versions of its stores. Reproducing the big-format store concept that saw success at its flagship original location in Chapel Hill isn’t translating in other markets, the company said.

The deadline for bids on Sports Authority has passed without an offer from rival Modell’s Sporting Goods and British retailer Sports Direct International, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday. There will be an auction for the leases and other remaining assets of the failed retailer, but there’s little to no hope of a deal that could save a significant piece of the Sports Authority chain, which filed for bankruptcy protection in March. At one point, Modell’s and Sports Direct were in talks about a bid that could have saved 100 to 200 Sports Authority stores and the jobs of thousands of employees, these people said. That proposal shrunk over the past week, and when bids were due on Thursday, there was no bid from Modell’s and Sports Direct. Going-out-of-business sales are under way at some 450 stores, conducted by liquidators Hilco Merchant Resources LLC, Gordon Brothers Retail Partners LLC and Tiger Capital Group LLC. Sports Authority’s trying to pay off more than $1 billion in debt in chapter 11.

Teen clothing retailer Aeropostale Inc. asked a federal judge for permission to pay up to $3.41 million in bonuses to 10 top executives as a reward for steering the company through bankruptcy protection, MarketWatch.com reported on Friday. Aeropostale lawyers told Bankruptcy Judge Sean Lane in court papers that the 10 executives wouldn’t get the money unless the retailer successfully gets out of bankruptcy and meets a sales revenue goal. They also proposed to pay up to $1.45 million in bonuses to 41 hard-to-replace workers, which would encourage them to remain on board until Oct. 25. Aeropostale’s roughly 800 stores filed for chapter 11 protection in May, following a path laid out by other mall-based cheap retailers who have been plunged into trouble by changing consumer tastes and competition from newer fast-fashion chains. Soon after, company officials began closing more than 150 money-losing stores.

A bankruptcy judge yesterday granted Sports Authority until Sept. 28 to file a chapter 11 plan that outlines financial distributions to its creditors, the Denver Post reported today. The bankrupt sporting goods retailer previously had until June 30 — one day after the scheduled auction of its remaining leases. In addition to the auction process, Sports Authority has enlisted Hilco Streambank to market assets such as its intellectual property, trademarks and the Sports Authority Field at Mile High Stadium naming rights. Sports Authority also is in discussions with Modell’s and Sports Direct for the sale of as many as 200 stores.

The Denver Broncos have the U.S. Bankruptcy Court’s permission to cancel their sponsorship contract with the bankrupt Sports Authority, the Denver Post reported today. Under the agreement, the exclusive “retail sporting goods” sponsor of the Broncos was granted a non-exclusive license to use the team’s trademarked logo in places such as websites, advertising and in-store signs; advertisements and signs. The deal also gave the retailer hospitality benefits such as box seats and Super Bowl tickets. Sports Authority’s sponsorship contract, which expires in 2035, is valued at more than $55.3 million, court records show. The company owes the Broncos $36 million. Separate from the sponsorship agreement, Sports Authority has a contract with the Denver Metropolitan Football Stadium District for the naming rights to Mile High Stadium, the Denver Broncos’ home field. Sports Authority is in the process of auctioning the naming-rights contract and has enlisted Hilco Streambank to find buyers for that agreement and for its intellectual property, including customer databases, private-label brands and domain names. But the stadium district filed a protest in bankruptcy court seeking first right of refusal if Sports Authority finds a new naming sponsor. Hilco Streambank has set a 3 p.m. June 27 deadline for bids on the intellectual property assets. The U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del., has set an auction date of June 29 for some Sports Authority store leases and other remaining assets.