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Bankrupt retailer Joyce Leslie Inc. will hold an auction for its store leases on Feb. 16, NorthJersey.com reported yesterday. The company has a stalking-horse bid from 618 Main Street Corp., which sells clothes under the Mad Rags/10spot name, for a number of the store leases. Joyce Leslie also is seeking bids for the lease on its corporate offices and distribution center, and for the rights to its name and intellectual property. The company is holding liquidation sales at its 42 stores in New Jersey and three other states.

American Apparel said on Friday that it has emerged from chapter 11 proceedings as a private company after implementing a reorganization plan, the Wall Street Journal reported on Saturday. The emergence ends a painful period for the Los Angeles-based clothing manufacturer and retail chain, which had to grapple with shrinking sales, an outsize store footprint as well as sexual harassment litigation tied to its former CEO and founder Dov Charney. The reorganization plan, which was unanimously approved by creditors, swapped $230 million in debt for equity with bondholders and provided for $40 million of exit capital for the company and a commitment for a $40 million asset-backed loan, American Apparel said. The company noted that among the benefits of the plan, interest expense would decrease by $20 million.

Toys “R” Us Inc. is working with Bank of America Corp., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Lazard to refinance its debt, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The world’s largest toy chain will reorganize its borrowings “in light of the positive business momentum reflected in the estimated financial results” for the year ended January 30, it said. The company also announced that it estimates its earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization for the 2015 financial year was $780 million, up 21 percent from a year ago. Same-store sales rose 2 percent during the holiday-shopping season, the first gain in four years, the company said last month.

Lawyers trying to sell California’s Metropolitan Automotive Warehouse Inc., which fell into bankruptcy after saying that it lost money expanding its online auto parts sales, want a bankruptcy judge to set a March 4 bid deadline for potential buyers, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday. Metropolitan Automotive Warehouse officials told Judge Wayne E. Johnson in court papers that several buyers are interested in purchasing the Los Angeles-area company out of bankruptcy at an auction. The company, combined with affiliate Star Auto Parts Inc., employs about 1,000 people. Metropolitan Automotive Warehouse officials didn’t say how much buyers were offering to pay but proposed to reveal the value of the auction’s opening bid by Feb. 12. One offer is expected to come from New York-based Parts Authority Inc., which called itself one of the largest distributors of automotive and truck parts on the East Coast in a document filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Riverside, Calif.

Sports Authority Inc. is preparing to file for bankruptcy as it faces a debt payment due in 10 days, Bloomberg News reported yesterday. The retailer, once the biggest sporting-goods chain in the U.S., is in talks with lenders including TPG Capital Management LP on a deal to reorganize in chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings. It’s also mapping out a plan to close as many as 200 of its more than 450 stores under the bankruptcy plan. Sports Authority is negotiating with creditors as the clock ticks on a $20 million interest payment that it skipped last month on its $343 million of subordinated debt. It’s been talking to holders of those bonds about accepting a loss in exchange for other securities. The company would be able to stave off a bankruptcy filing if it reaches a deal with the bondholders.

Hancock Fabrics Inc. filed for its second bankruptcy yesterday and said that it might put the entire company of 250 retail sewing and crafting stores up for sale, Reuters reported. The company said that the chapter 11 filing would allow it to restructure its balance sheet, cut costs, close underperforming stores and access liquidity. Hancock said that it had assets of about $151.4 million and liabilities of $182.1 million, according to court documents. The company previously filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2007 and emerged a year later. The case is Hancock Fabrics Inc., U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Delaware, No. 16-10296.

New York area retail vets Ronny Shmoel and Albert Liniado are betting that the third time will be a charm for Circuit City, Twice Magazine reported on Wednesday. They acquired the Circuit City Corp. brand, domain and associated trademarks in October from IT supplier Systemax, which bought them in a bankruptcy auction but abandoned the U.S. retail channel last fall. Once the No. 1 big-box tech chain, Circuit City succumbed to a rapidly changing marketplace in 2008, and misfired in its second incarnation as an online-only sister site to Systemax’s TigerDirect. This time, what Shmoel and his top lieutenant Liniado have in store for Circuit is an ambitious, multi-tiered plan that calls for retail outlets, web sales, branded and private-label products, licensed kiosks, mobile shops and franchise opportunities, all under the iconic red-and-white banner. The company opens its first store in June, most likely in the Dallas market, and relaunches CircuitCity.com.

Quiksilver Inc., the California-based surfwear and skatewear retailer, won final bankruptcy-court approval of a plan that restructures some $800 million in debt and ensures a fresh start for the company under its new private-equity owner, Oaktree Capital Management, the Wall Street Journal reported today. In approving the plan, Bankruptcy Judge Brendan Shannon cleared the way for the company to “start the ball rolling” and exit chapter 11 protection as soon as next week. Under a deal reached before Quiksilver filed for bankruptcy, Oaktree and other secured bondholders will forgive $279 million of bond debt in exchange for control of the retailer. Oaktree holds about 75 percent of that debt and will receive a majority stake in the restructured company, court papers show.

As mall owners prepare to report fourth-quarter earnings results, investors already are bracing for a tougher road ahead, according to a Wall Street Journal analysis yesterday. Real estate researcher Green Street Advisors is lowering its forecasts for the rent that large U.S. mall owners will be able to charge and the amount of space that will be occupied by tenants for years to come. Rents will grow at a paltry 1.5 percent annually for existing nonanchor tenants through 2019, Green Street now predicts, down from the 2.5 percent growth it anticipated a year ago for the same four-year period. Last January, the Newport Beach, Calif.-based researcher predicted that the occupancy rate for nonanchor tenants would rise above 96 percent in 2019. Now it expects that rate to drop to just over 94 percent by then. The occupancy rate in 2015 was nearly 95 percent.