As another national retailer asks court to liquidate, Bellingham to lose longtime store
With news that Pier 1 Imports may not make it through the coronavirus pandemic, Bellingham could be losing a retailer that’s been around for 30 years.
The Dallas Morning News and other media outlets are reporting that the retailer will begin liquidating as soon as its stores are able to reopen. The retailer, based in Fort Worth, Texas, asked the bankruptcy court to approve “an orderly wind-down” of its retail operations as soon as store locations are able to reopen.
The Bellingham store at 4061 Meridian St. was first issued a business license in July 1990, and was one of several large retailers that opened on Meridian Street after the opening of Bellis Fair in August 1988.
The company had filed for bankruptcy reorganization in February, before the COVID-19 restrictions started taking hold across the U.S. The retailer had hoped to keep around 450 stores and rebuild, but a buyer could not be found during the pandemic, according to the Dallas Morning News article.
According to its website, the company started with a single store in 1962 in San Mateo, California. Its first customers were the baby boomer generation looking for beanbag chairs for apartments and college dorm rooms. Pier 1 changed its offerings over the years, eventually opening more than 1,000 stores across the U.S.
The potential liquidation of Pier 1 comes at a time when several national retailers have filed for bankruptcy in the past few weeks, including JC Penney, J. Crew, True Religion and Nieman Marcus. JC Penney, which has a store at Bellis Fair, has not yet announced which of its 240 stores will close. With those closures, JC Penney will have around 600 stores remaining.
This story was originally published May 19, 2020 at 12:03 PM.
