Pier 1 closing all retail operations

In a press release today Pier 1 announced the orderly shutdown of all of their retail operations, including closing all stores and liquidating inventory, including their e-commerce operations and intellectual property.  They join a list of companies suffering in the pandemic, including J. C. Penney, which recently announced plans for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Robert Riesbeck, Pier 1’s Chief Executive Officer and Chief Financial Officer said, “We are grateful to our dedicated and hardworking associates, millions of customers and committed vendors who have collectively supported Pier 1 for decades. We deeply value our associates, customers, business partners and the communities in which we operate, and this is not the outcome we expected or hoped to achieve. This decision follows months of working to identify a buyer who would continue to operate our business going forward. Unfortunately, the challenging retail environment has been significantly compounded by the profound impact of COVID-19, hindering our ability to secure such a buyer and requiring us to wind down.”

Pier 1 intends to initiate store closing efforts and liquidation sales once store locations can reopen, in compliance with COVID-19 guidelines from local government and health officials. The Company is currently continuing to serve customers through Pier1.com, and orders are being processed and filled.

Pier 1 expects to conduct its asset sales pursuant to the bidding procedures established by the Court on February 18, 2020. The Company has proposed July 1, 2020 as the asset bid deadline, July 8, 2020 as the auction date and July 15, 2020 as the sale hearing date.