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Another iconic superstore has announced that it will be closing all but 16 of its remaining locations in the coming months, bestlifeonline.com reported. Two years after being purchased out of bankruptcy along with Sears, Kmart continues to shrink its once-large footprint by closing down even more locations. The company is keeping up with a list of sweeping closures that were announced in late 2019, leaving only 16 locations of the superstore remaining following liquidation sales set to take place through November, USA Today reported. The shuttering of even more Kmart locations comes as parent company Transformco continues its plan to salvage the two retail giants. As part of the process, the company will also be closing all but 19 of the remaining Sears department stores after a similar round of liquidation. The decline shows a significant change from the start of 2010, when Sears had more than 3,900 stores. Nearly a decade later, the number had shrunk to 489 by the beginning of 2019. Numbers dwindled even further by the end of January 2021, when there were just 36 Sears department stores left in operation. During the same time period, Kmart had dropped from 360 in 2019 to 30 in 2021, according to Forbes. 

With the pandemic keeping millions of New York City office employees home for the past year, restaurants, coffee shops, apparel retailers and others struggled to stay afloat, the New York Times reported. By the end of 2020, the number of chain stores in Manhattan — everything from drugstores to clothing retailers to restaurants — had fallen by more than 17 percent from 2019, according to the Center for an Urban Future, a nonprofit research and policy organization. Across Manhattan, the number of available ground-floor stores, normally the domain of busy restaurants and clothing stores, has soared. A quarter of the ground-floor storefronts in Lower Manhattan are available for rent, while about a third are available in Herald Square, according to a report by the real-estate firm Cushman & Wakefield. Starbucks has permanently closed 44 outlets in Manhattan since March of last year. Pret a Manger has reopened only half of the 60 locations it had in New York City before the pandemic. Numerous delicatessens, independent restaurants and smaller local chains have gone dark.

Luxury furniture retailer ABC Carpet & Home on Friday secured court approval to tap part of a $5.7 million loan to fund operations while it is in bankruptcy, Reuters reported. During a virtual hearing, Bankruptcy Judge David S. Jones in Manhattan approved access by the company to $2.25 million of the loan on an interim basis and will consider the remainder later this month. The New York-based company filed for chapter 11 protection with plans to sell its assets on Wednesday with about $8 million in secured debt and another $80 million in unsecured debt. The company blamed the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic for its troubles, including the flight of many prospective customers who left New York. The company is looking to sell its assets by the end of October and has lined up a $15.3 million lead bid from 888 Capital, an entity controlled by Regal Investments. ABC owner Paulette Cole, the great-granddaughter of the company’s founder, holds a minority interest in 888 Capital. 888 Capital is also providing the bankruptcy loan.

New York luxury furniture purveyor ABC Carpet & Home plans to file for bankruptcy protection as soon as Thursday after struggling to keep up with costs amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Bloomberg News reported. The luxury furniture retailer is set to receive a debtor-in-possession loan from 888 Capital Partners as part of its bankruptcy filing. The investment firm is one of several potential buyers for the company in bankruptcy. ABC Carpet & Home has been working with advisers from B. Riley Financial Inc. and Greenberg Traurig to seek new financing or a buyer after a planned private-equity sale fell through, Bloomberg previously reported. In a statement to Bloomberg, Chief Executive Officer Aaron Rose said the business would continue to operate as usual. “ABC carpet & home is in advanced discussions with a strategic investor who has provided funding for the company’s operations and is developing a long-term financial plan that will continue the company’s iconic legacy,” Rose said. “Business is operating as usual during this process.” The company’s popular restaurant business, including ABC Kitchen, wouldn’t be included in the bankruptcy.

When Washington Prime Group went bust in June, the mall operator’s bankruptcy judge was almost certain the case would culminate in a spreadsheet-ridden valuation brawl, Bloomberg News reported. It was a surprise, then, when U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Marvin Isgur signed off on the real estate investment trust’s chapter 11 exit plan on Friday without any creditors sniping over future cash flows, piecemeal asset sales or competing deals. His approval means investment firm SVPGlobal will swap its debt holdings for ownership of the company, and stock holders will even see a recovery, despite no one knowing quite what Washington Prime is worth. Columbus, Ohio-based Washington Prime has a portfolio of some 100 shopping centers across the U.S., sporting a mix of fully-enclosed malls and open-air centers. The varied bag of brick-and-mortar retail assets mixed with the uncertainty of a global pandemic created a difficult, if not impossible, task for valuation experts.