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The bones of Brooks Brothers stores are scattered across 100,000 square feet here in a warehouse near the Massachusetts border, mixed in with a sea of cardboard boxes and junk, the New York Times reported. There are legions of mannequins, empty circular tables that once displayed neckties, posters of horseback-riding gentlemen from a bygone era. There is a whole section of Christmas trees and countless gold-painted ornaments of sheep suspended by ribbon — a Brooks Brothers symbol since 1850 known as the Golden Fleece. Blank order forms for tailors are strewn about. A neon sign that apparently still works. There is no apparel, but there are rows of heavy sewing machines that most likely came from one of the brand’s recently shuttered factories. And in the bathroom, a welcome carpet with Brooks Brothers written in cursive sits next to a toilet. The whole mass was abandoned here in the fallout of Brooks Brothers’ bankruptcy filing and sale last year, the scraps of a retailer that made nearly $1 billion in sales in 2019. Ever since, the couple that owns the warehouse, Chip and Rosanna LaBonte, has been scrambling to figure out how to get rid of it all. Junk removal companies have told them it will cost at least $240,000 to clear the space, which Brooks Brothers had rented through November. In order to pay the bill, the LaBontes are going to have to sell their home. The couple’s plight illustrates the far-reaching consequences of retail bankruptcies, which cascaded during the pandemic and affected everyone from factory workers to executives. Smaller vendors and landlords have often been left holding the short end of the stick during lengthy byzantine bankruptcy proceedings, particularly with limits on what they can spend on legal bills compared with larger corporations. And once bankrupt brands are sold, people like the LaBontes are typically left in the dust.

The day traders who bet on Hertz Global Holdings Inc. despite its bankruptcy last year were on to something, according to hedge-fund shareholders making a play to back the rental-car company’s exit from chapter 11, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Hertz stockholders including Glenview Capital Management LLC and Discovery Capital Management have formed a shareholder committee in the chapter 11 case and hope to fashion a restructuring that will lift Hertz out of bankruptcy, their lawyer Andrew Glenn said in an interview. The equity of bankrupt companies is most often worthless, save for the few instances in which the debt can be fully paid with a surplus of value left over for shareholders. In Hertz’s case, “the equity is in the money,” said Mr. Glenn of law firm Glenn Agre Bergman & Fuentes LLP. Risk-hungry individual investors thought the same after Hertz filed for bankruptcy last year, an early casualty of the travel-deadening effects of the Covid-19 pandemic. Unlike many stocks that cratered in value because of stay-at-home restrictions, Hertz took on new life when individual investors sent its shares on a gravity-defying rally, despite the severe financial strains it was facing. In a speculative frenzy that preceded the GameStop Corp. phenomenon, day traders piled into Hertz early last June, sending shares surging from 56 cents after it filed for bankruptcy to above $5.50 less than two weeks later — a nearly 900% rally — before declining again. Hertz sought to capitalize on the trading frenzy by offering up to $1 billion in shares, a seemingly unprecedented move for a large company in chapter 11. Hertz acknowledged the shares were potentially worthless and called off the effort after the Securities and Exchange Commission raised questions, but not before issuing $29 million worth of equity. Even in the months after the stock’s sharp rise and fall, individual investors continued to discuss and tout Hertz online, with some predicting the company could make a comeback.

J.C. Penney Co. Inc. said yesterday that it has agreed to transfer its pension obligations to annuities provider Athene Holding Ltd, ensuring that the U.S. department store chain’s retired employees will continue to get their benefits, Reuters reported. J.C. Penney, which said in December that it would seek to exit bankruptcy protection sometime this year, will not receive any money as part of the deal, but will shed the liabilities that came with the pensions. “We are thrilled that this one-of-a-kind transaction will enable the Pension Plan to pay the benefits that JCPenney intended the participants to receive,” J.C. Penny said in an emailed statement. Apollo Global Management Inc, the private equity firm that controls Athene and earlier this month inked an $11 billion deal to take it private, is seeking to profit by earning a higher return on investing the pension assets than its payouts to the retirees will be.

The giant container ship that blocked the Suez Canal for six days was freed Monday, but another bottleneck in the supply chain remains, this one in Southern California, the Wall Street Journal reported. On Monday morning, 24 container ships — with a combined maximum carrying capacity nearly 10 times that of the newly freed ship — were anchored off the coast waiting for space at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, according to the Marine Exchange of Southern California, which keeps tabs on vessels and directs ship traffic. The ships are carrying tens of thousands of boxes holding millions of dollars’ worth of washing machines, medical equipment, consumer electronics and other of the goods that make up global ocean trade, all of it idling in the waters in sight of docks that are jammed with still more containers. One was on its 12th day of waiting in the seemingly unending queue. And the vessels keep coming. Backups started building late last year as retailers and manufacturers tried to rebuild inventories that were depleted in the early months of the coronavirus pandemic.

Nordstrom Inc. was so desperate for cash when the pandemic took hold last year that it mortgaged prized assets and took on high-cost debt once reserved for some of the riskiest companies. Now, thanks to the red-hot corporate bond market and borrowing costs that remain near some of the cheapest ever, the luxury department store chain is beginning to dig out of a hole that pushed one of its credit ratings into junk and threatened to snowball into a cash crisis, Bloomberg News reported. Analysts say Nordstrom’s debt sale this week is an important step on its long road back to full blue-chip status in the debt markets. The retailer sold $675 million of unsecured bonds Wednesday to finish repaying debt it took on at the panicked height of the pandemic last year. The buyback frees up prized real estate including its Seattle flagship that served as collateral. It buys the company more time to repay its debt, and helps improve its challenged liquidity position — all steps that will help the company boost its credit ratings if operations continue to rebound this year. Refinancing debt or loosening credit terms had become a particular focus of members of the Nordstrom family after deteriorating ratings last year triggered borrowing restrictions including collateral pledges.

Cineworld will ask shareholders to approve an increase in its debt ceiling next month after the pandemic-stricken cinema group plunged to a $3 billion loss last year, Reuters reported. The Regal Cinemas owner, forced by coronavirus lockdowns to shut most of its almost 800 theatres in October and temporarily lay off about 45,000 staff, sunk to its first pretax loss as a listed company last year, after a $212.3 million profit in 2019. Its shares tumbled 9% to 94 pence in early Thursday trading, the worst performance on the UK mid-cap index. The group, which is set to reopen its U.S. chains next month, said it had secured commitments for a new $213 million 7.5% convertible bond due in 2025 to bolster its finances. It also has waivers on its borrowing terms until June next year. It expects to reopen cinemas in Britain and the rest of the world in May, and sees pent-up demand after strong industry reopenings in China, Japan and Australia.

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey says her office secured a guarantee through bankruptcy court to process refunds for Boston Sports Clubs customers who were charged for their memberships during the pandemic, WCVB.com reported. Last year, WCVB showed how Boston Sports Clubs kept charging members during the shutdown despite laying off staff and closing its doors. When the gym reopened, members say BSC made it nearly impossible to cancel without further charges, a violation of Massachusetts state law. After receiving thousands of complaints, Massachusetts Attorney General Healey sued BSC in the fall and the company declared bankruptcy. Healey now says her office secured a guarantee through bankruptcy court to process refunds for customers. Now, almost 600 customers will be getting back about $127,000, or an average of $215 each. Healey said her lawsuit is still moving forward and is seeking further assets from the company and its former leaders to make sure everyone who is entitled to a refund will get one.

Mall owner CBL & Associates Properties Inc. reached a truce with bank lenders led by Wells Fargo Bank NA, agreeing to a restructuring proposal that will end negotiations that started months before the company filed for bankruptcy, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. CBL, one of the largest mall owners in the U.S., filed for bankruptcy in November with $4 billion in debt. Under the chapter 11 plan unveiled yesterday, Wells Fargo and other banks owed more than $980 million would walk away with $100 million in cash and more than $880 million in new loans. Bondholders would receive an 89% stake in the reorganized company, $555 million in new secured notes and $95 million in cash. If approved in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Houston, the restructuring proposal would eliminate CBL’s $1.6 billion in debt and preferred obligations and slash the company’s interest expenses.

Washington Prime Group Inc., the owner of a nationwide group of shopping malls reeling from the pandemic, approached investors to sound out early interest in providing bankruptcy financing as it prepares to file for chapter 11, Bloomberg News reported. Guggenheim, the company’s investment bank, has asked prospective lenders to indicate their interest in providing a potential $150 million debtor-in-possession loan. The real estate investment trust, which owns about 100 malls throughout the U.S., acknowledged that it may have to file for court protection from creditors amid “substantial doubt” about its ability to keep operating. Bloomberg News previously reported that Washington Prime was contemplating bankruptcy. The mall owner’s bankruptcy plans are not yet final and the discussions around the financing could change. Washington Prime is under forbearance with creditors until March 31 after missing a Feb. 15 interest payment. It remains in talks with creditors around a financial restructuring, according to an earnings statement released Wednesday.

Quintessential mall stores from Macy’s Inc. to Kay Jewelers to Gap Inc. are plotting out a post-Covid future — and traditional shopping centers won’t play as much of a role in it, Bloomberg News reported. Signet Jewelers Ltd., which owns chains such as Kay and Zales, said this past week it will expand in off-mall locations while continuing to pull back from the old-school gallerias where it has long had a major presence. The company also plans to add more kiosks in underserved markets. The move brings “an opportunity for a better economic model,” Joan Hilson, Signet’s chief financial officer, said in an interview. “The foot traffic for off-mall locations is better than what we’re seeing in the mall, certainly in this time. It’s really important, and we see that shift continuing.” Retailers are abandoning enclosed malls in growing numbers as the rise of online shopping transforms the industry — a trend that has accelerated during the coronavirus pandemic. Almost a third of retail CFOs are planning to scale back their mall presence, according to a recent survey from consulting firm BDO USA. That’s throwing into question the future of hundreds of traditional malls, already financially struggling before the pandemic, as they grapple with expensive real estate and fewer tenants who want to be there. “Even the ones that haven’t been distressed are being hurt by the lack of foot traffic in the mall,” said David Berliner, head of the restructuring and turnaround practice at BDO. Some are talking about relocating stores from malls to nearby centers anchored by merchants like Walmart Inc. “because they’re going to get more foot traffic than they’re getting at the mall now.”