LL Flooring Could Be Liquidating Its Entire Company

One of the biggest retailers of wood products filed bankruptcy and unless it finds a savior it could go out of business.

We know just about every retailer in the home remodeling and home furnishings sector is struggling in the housing market downturn but LL Flooring seems to be worse off than most. The big retailer, which was originally known as Lumber Liquidators and has had some 400 stores doing close to a $1 billion in annual revenues, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and immediately announced it would be closing 94 of those locations.

In its filing, the company said “lower levels of home improvement, decreased discretionary spending and declining demand in the sector following highs during the early months of the pandemic” drove it into bankruptcy. It also said it had stopped paying some of its vendors that accounted for 80 percent of its annual volume. It listed liabilities of between $100 million and $500 million and assets in the $500 million to $1 billion range. It did obtain debtor-in-possession financing of about $150 million to allow it to remain open and continue operations in the meantime.

The retailer had been warning of its worsening financial position for much of the past year, causing its stock price to drop more than 75 percent since the start of 2024. In 2015 the retailer, under its previous name, had another brush with disaster when a CBS 60 Minutes report said it was selling unsafe products. It paid a big fine and soon after changed its name.

But this time, things could be much worse for LL Flooring. It said it was talking with “multiple” potential buyers but warned that unless it found one by the end of August it would be forced to liquidate entirely and shut down completely. Should that happen, likely beneficiaries would be several competitors, including Home Depot, Lowes and Floor & Décor.

BACK TO NEWS