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Bankruptcy seemed to signal the end for trendy women’s clothing retailer Dots, which emptied its 359 stores with going-out-of-business sales this spring, but a Florida firm in the retail industry bought the Dots brand and is slowly resurrecting it, saying it can avoid the problems that the juniors’ and plus-sized clothes retailer faced, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. The retailer’s new owner — named New Dots LLC — plans to open 120 Dots stores by the end of next year, Chief Executive Swapnil Shah said. Shah said he worked out deals with some landlords whose storefronts became vacant when Dots, which employed more than 3,500 people, shut down. Some of the same suppliers that once stocked Dots’ shelves have agreed to send fresh merchandise, he added. Liquidators had a May 31 deadline to empty Dots’ stores, according to legal documents filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Newark, N.J.

Dollar Tree Inc. agreed to acquire Family Dollar Stores Inc. in a cash-and-stock deal that values the struggling discount retailer at about $8.5 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The agreement, which provides Family Dollar with a roughly 23 percent premium over the company's closing stock price on Friday, comes as activist investor Carl Icahn has been pushing for a sale of Family Dollar and threatening to replace the discount retailer's board. Icahn has amassed a nearly 9.4 percent stake in Family Dollar, according to a recent regulatory filing. Dollar stores have been altering their merchandise lineups to hang on to customers they gained during the recession, as well as to continue to attract those struggling in the current economic environment. The retailers also are facing growing competition from Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which is opening smaller locations.

A bankruptcy judge yesterday put Crumbs Bake Shop Inc. on the path to a quick sale, which the cupcake chain hopes will allow it to reopen the doors at many of its locations, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. Bankruptcy Judge Michael Kaplan set a July 24 hearing to approve procedures for an auction of the company, with the lead bid set at roughly $6.5 million from Fischer Enterprises and CNBC star Michael Lemonis.

Love Culture Inc. yesterday filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, becoming the latest women's apparel retailer to seek protection from creditors, and said it may be sold after having received interest from possible buyers, Reuters reported yesterday. The company, which according to its website has 82 stores stretching from Massachusetts to Hawaii, joins Ashley Stewart Holdings Inc., Coldwater Creek Inc., Dots LLC and Loehmann's Inc. among retailers to file for bankruptcy since late last year as consumers curb spending and visit malls less. In a court filing, the company's chief restructuring officer, Rick Bunka, said sales remain below projections, while vendors in April began curbing credit and demanding payment for goods faster or upon delivery, leading to "significant liquidity challenges." Love Culture said it plans during the bankruptcy process to close money-losing stores, restructure its debt and investigate options "including a possible sale of substantially all of its assets as a going concern."

Former executives and officers of sandwich chain Quiznos are suing several Quiznos-related entities that didn't file for bankruptcy, demanding the entities defend them in litigation being promised by former Quiznos owners Avenue Capital Management and Fortress Investment Group LLC, Dow Jones Daily Bankruptcy Review reported today. This lawsuit brought by Quiznos founder Richard Schaden, former board members, a former chief executive and a former chief financial officer says that the entities agreed to pay in advance for legal fees and costs associated with defending their work for Quiznos, according to the lawsuit filed Friday with the Delaware Chancery Court.

Love Culture Inc., a women’s-wear retailer with more than 80 stores, is preparing to file for bankruptcy in a New Jersey court, Bloomberg News reported on Friday. The chain will seek to continue operations and sell itself as a going concern. Love Culture was founded in 2007 by Jai Rhee and Bennett Koo, former executives at fast-fashion retailer Forever 21, with the aim of selling affordable style to young women. Lowenstein Sandler LLP and New York-based PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP are representing the company.

Court documents show that Crumbs Bake Shop Inc. may get a second chance if a bankruptcy judge approves a deal for the owner of Dippin' Dots ice cream and the star of a reality television show to buy and reopen the U.S. cupcake chain, Reuters reported on Saturday. Crumbs, which specialized in oversized cupcakes and went public in 2011, shuttered its nearly 50 locations in 10 states and the District of Columbia on July 7 and filed for chapter 11 protection on Friday. Part of the group seeking to buy the chain is Marcus Lemonis, star of CNBC reality show "The Profit" and known as the "business turnaround king." He, along with Fischer Enterprises LLC, the owner of Dippin Dots, would provide debtor-in-possession financing and subsequently buy the cupcake chain through a joint venture called Lemonis Fischer Acquisition Co., according to the document. They would reform Crumbs as a privately held company, reopen its stores and resume operations.

Crumbs Bake Shop Inc., the cupcake chain that abruptly shuttered its stores this week, is working on a plan to save the business, Bloomberg News reported today. The company is in talks with “various interested parties” as Crumbs plans its next steps, Chief Executive Officer Edward Slezak said yesterday. The deal may hinge on CNBC personality Marcus Lemonis, who has formed an investment group to supply Crumbs with financing en route to a possible acquisition, according to his cable-TV network. Lemonis, who also serves as CEO of Camping World and Good Sam Enterprises, is the star of “The Profit,” a show where he spends millions of his own money to save failing companies.

Hedge fund Standard General gained sway over American Apparel Inc. with an 11th-hour lifeline, part of a deal that will overhaul the company's board and install ousted founder Dov Charney as a strategic consultant — at least for now, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The deal, completed yesterday, will provide the company with $25 million, some of which will be used to pay off a loan that has been called in by Lion Capital, another investment firm. As part of the deal, all but two of American Apparel's seven-member board will be replaced. Charney will serve as a strategic consultant until an investigation into his conduct is completed.

American Apparel Inc. confirmed yesterday that investment firm Lion Capital has demanded repayment of a $10 million loan, asserting the casual clothing maker defaulted under their credit pact when Dov Charney ceased to be chief executive, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The company, which makes T-shirts, leggings and other casual clothes, said it disputes the lender's claims and may seek damages from Lion for what it deemed an invalid acceleration of the loan maturity. American Apparel added that its revolving credit pact doesn't permit the repayment of the loans from Lion, but it is seeking consent from those lenders to do so and believes it will be able to repay the loan if consent is given. The company, meanwhile, is in talks with hedge fund Standard General to shore up its finances, reconstitute its board and strengthen its management. The moves are aimed at resolving a crisis at the company that was set off last month when the board voted Charney out as chairman and told him he would be fired as president and CEO once a 30-day waiting period called for in his contract expired. Lion had the right to call in the loan if Charney was removed, but the company argued in yesterday’s regulatory filing that such a move couldn't be made before July 19.