Avenue Stores LLC is a specialty retailer in the United States offering
plus-size clothing to women who wear larger-size clothing. The company serves a
target audience of women aged between 25 and 55 years of age, wearing apparel of size 14 or larger, and also sells shoes and accessories.
The group operated 222 stores in 33 states in 2019,
all under the name The Avenue.
Avenue Stores LLC was headquartered in New Rochelle, New Jersey and went through a series of parent companies, with Versa Capital Management, a private equity firm overseeing its final bankruptcy.
It also operated the women fashion brands Loralette and Cloudwalkers.
Avenue closed all of its stores by 2019, remaining only as an online retail operation.
History
In 1983, Avenue clothing stores began when Limited Brands combined their Lerner Woman and Sizes Unlimited brands. The new business, under the auspecies of United Retail Group, was based in New Rochelle, New Jersey. Its
IPO
An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investment ...
took place in 1992.
In 2005,
and 2006, Avenue was showing sales growth.
The company was acquired by the now-defunct Redcats USA in 2007, with their parent company Kerig, a French fashion group. When Avenue went bankrupt in 2012, it was acquired by Philadelphia-based private equity firm Versa Capital Management.
Early in 2012, United Retail Group, Inc., Avenue's parent company, filed for
Chapter 11 bankruptcy
Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, whe ...
and was acquired by Versa Capital Management.
At the time, many of the Avenue stores remained open, as well as some distribution centers.
of ''
This Is Us'' said she wore clothing from Avenue, and appeared at her publicized 36th birthday in a faux leather jacket from the store.
In addition, the brand put out a nationwide call for customers to try-out to be Avenue clothing plus-size models.
In May 2018, Mark Walsh was appointed CEO of Avenue, succeeding to Liz Williams.
On August 9, 2019, Avenue Stores again filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The case was filed in Delaware as case number 19-11842. According to an affidavit filed by David Rhoads, the company's President and Chief Financial Officer, the company struggled to compete. It planned to use the bankruptcy process to sell its e-commerce business and wind down its physical stores. The e-commerce business maintains the domains: avenue.com and loralette.com. SB360 Capital Partners, LLC has been identified as the stalking horse bidder.
In October 2019, the
e-commerce
E-commerce (electronic commerce) is the activity of electronically buying or selling of products on online services or over the Internet. E-commerce draws on technologies such as mobile commerce, electronic funds transfer, supply chain manageme ...
assets were sold to Australian retailer
City Chic Collective
City Chic Collective () (CCC), founded as Miller's Retail in 1992, and rebranded in December 2006 to Specialty Fashion Group, is an Australian retail clothing company. It is headquartered in the Sydney suburb of Alexandria.
Miller's Retail
Mil ...
.
City Chic broadens US reach with e-commerce acquisition
'' Inside Retailing'' October 8, 2019
References
External links
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Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2012
Companies based in Bergen County, New Jersey
Retail companies established in 1987
Clothing retailers of the United States
American companies established in 1987
Retail companies disestablished in 2019
American companies disestablished in 2019
Retail companies established in 2019
Internet properties established in 2019
American companies established in 2019
2019 establishments in New Jersey
Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2019
Rochelle Park, New Jersey
2007 mergers and acquisitions