The Container Store has emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
The Home Depot rival filed for bankruptcy protection in Texas last month after falling into $836.4 million of debt.
The home goods chain received a boost from Marie Kondo’s hit Netflix show ‘Tidying Up’ during the Covid-19 pandemic, but then became weighed down by mounting losses in recent years.
However, on Tuesday the company said it was exiting bankruptcy after achieving ‘the objectives it set for this process.’
Those aims included shedding some of its long-term debt, refinancing its shorter term debt as well as getting a cash injection of $40 million.
The company, which made a loss of $10 million last year, continued to operate as normal during the bankruptcy proceedings and no employees lost their jobs.
The company did close down two of its stores during the process, but argued they were planned separately to the proceedings.
The company currently operates 102 stores across 34 states.
Tidying and organization expert Marie Kondo previously partnered with The Container Store
The 46-year-old company is now in a ‘new chapter’ with a ‘healthier balance sheet that positions the company for profitable growth,’ according to its CEO Satish Malhorta.
Previously publicly traded, The Container Store will now become private, Yahoo Finance reported.
The chain, which was founded in 1978, was delisted from the New York Stock Exchange on December 9 after it fell below the exchange’s market cap standard.
When it first went public in 2013, it was priced at $525 per share, but this had spiraled to just $0.32 per share by December 19.
As inflation has hit households hard in the last several years, The Container Store struggled to drive revenue, especially as customers have put off buying big-ticket items and remodeling their homes.
Instead, Americans have focused on buying essential goods from budget retailers.
The Container Store filed for Chapter 11 protection on December 22 but emerged in January
The chain was delisted from the New York Stock Exchange on December 9
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The Container Store’s woes are part of a widespread ‘retail apocalypse’ which last year saw major companies file for bankruptcy and brick-and-mortar stores close in their droves.
Up until mid-December, US retailers shut 7,300 stores – up nearly 60 percent from 2023.
Discount retail chain Big Lots said last year it was beginning ‘going out of business’ sales at all its stores across the US, after filing for bankruptcy in September.
The company initially said it was closing all its 963 remaining locations, after a sale to a private equity firm fell through – but has since found an investor that should keep between 200 and 400 open.
Meanwhile after nearly four decades as a US retail institution, Party City announced late last year it would close all of its 850 stores.
America’s top department store Macy’s also announced it would shutter 65 locations across the country before the end of January.