Franchise Group, Inc. is an American privately-held holding company that acquires and manages mainly franchise companies. It owns brands in various retail industries including American Freight, Buddy's Home Furnishings,

The Vitamin Shoppe The Vitamin Shoppe (formerly Vitamin Shoppe Industries, Inc., stylized as the VitaminShoppe) is an American, New Jersey–based retailer of nutritional supplements. It also operated three stores in Canada under the name VitaPath from January 201 ...

, and Pet Supplies Plus. On August 21, 2023, it was announced that a

consortium A consortium () is an association of two or more individuals, companies, organizations, or governments (or any combination of these entities) with the objective of participating in a common activity or pooling their resources for achieving a ...

of investors had acquired Franchise Group for $2.6 billion.

History

Founded in 2019 through the merger of

Liberty Tax Liberty Tax, is a chain of franchise and company-owned locations that provide tax preparation services. It is known for its wavers, people in Statue of Liberty costumes and Uncle Sam costumes, used as a form of guerrilla marketing. It is the thi ...

and Buddy's Home Furnishings, it originally operated under the name Liberty Tax. However, when it was renamed Franchise Group, the company retained Liberty Tax and Buddy's Home Furnishings as its subsidiaries. One year after purchasing

and Sears Outlet, the company purchased American Freight for $450 million in cash in 2020. - then Sears Outlet merged into American Freight. On November 5, 2020, Franchise Group announced that it would acquire

Fort Smith, Arkansas Fort Smith is the List of municipalities in Arkansas, third-most populous city in Arkansas, United States, and one of the two county seats of Sebastian County, Arkansas, Sebastian County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the pop ...

-based regional furniture retailer FFO Home, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on the same day. The acquisition was completed on December 29. In the year it sold Liberty Tax to NextPoint Financial for $249 million, Franchise Group made numerous acquisitions in 2021. Around that time, it purchased Pet Supplies Plus in a deal valued at $700 million,

Sylvan Learning Sylvan Learning, Inc. (formerly Sylvan Learning Corporation) consists of franchised and corporate supplemental learning centers which provide personalized instruction in reading, writing, mathematics, study skills, homework support, and test pr ...

for $81 million, and

Badcock Home Furniture W.S. Badcock LLC (stylized as Badcock Home Furniture & More) was an American chain of over 370 company and dealer owned furniture stores in eight states across the southeastern United States. Robert B. Burnette was president of Badcock Home Furnit ...

for $580 million. In August, a group of investors bought Franchise Group for US$2.6 billion. In November 2023, Kahn was identified by Bloomberg as one of two co-conspirators in a securities fraud case, following the guilty plea of John Hughes, co-founder of Prophecy Asset Management In December 2023,

Conn's Conn's, Inc. was an American furniture, mattress, electronics and appliance store chain headquartered in The Woodlands, Texas, United States. The chain had stores in Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, Florida, ...

acquired Badcock Home Furniture &more from the Franchise Group. Conn's ended up filing 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, w ...

in July 2024, and liquidated all of its namesake and Badcock stores by October 2024. In February 2024, Unleashed Brands, owner of

The Little Gym The Little Gym International is a franchisor of infant and child oriented fitness gyms, following the guidelines set out by USA Gymnastics. It offers classes in gymnastics, dance, karate, and Kindermusic. It was founded in 1976, by educator Robi ...

and Urban Air Trampoline Park, acquired

from Franchise Group for an undisclosed amount. On November 2, 2024, Franchise Group announced that they were preparing to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after months of losses and turmoil caused by its owner, B. Riley Financial. HPS Investment Partners, a private equity firm, amongst other lenders, will take over the company once the restructuring is completed. On November 3, 2024, Franchise Group and all of its affiliated subsidiaries filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Delaware. The company plans to keep its Pet Supplies Plus, The Vitamin Shoppe, and Buddy's Home Furnishings stores open during the procedure, while it plans to liquidate American Freight. American Freight suffered major losses due to high rising costs and macroeconomic challenges. Liquidation sales are set to begin on November 5, with most stores shuttering by the end of the year. However, in January 2025, a U.S. bankruptcy judge approved the sale of up to 28 American Freight stores and one distribution center to AF Newco I LLC. 2 additional locations were also included in the sale, but were eventually withheld due to possible state law issues. AF Newco I LLC plans to reopen the 28 locations and distribution center later into 2025. In April 2025, Franchise Group announced the sale of The Vitamin Shoppe to Kingswood Capital Management and Performance Investment Partners for $193.5 million. The deal was finalized on May 15, 2025. On June 6, 2025, Franchise Group exited its bankruptcy after its reorganization plan was approved on June 2. Pet Supplies Plus and Buddy's Home Furnishings will now be operated by Fusion Parent LLC.

Subsidiaries

Current subsidiaries

* American Freight; a chain of discount furniture and home furnishing stores that was acquired in February 2020 * Buddy's Home Furnishings; offers home furniture including sofas, chairs, dining tables, as well as electronics, and appliances. Buddy's Home Furnishings serves clients in the United States. * Pet Supplies Plus; offers pet supplies and services in 400-plus locations in 30-plus US states.

Former subsidiaries

* Sears Outlet Stores; outlet version of Sears department stores located in various retail locations across the U.S., as well as online. Sold to Franchise Group in October 2019 while

Transform Holdco Transform SR Brands LLC (doing business as TransformCo, referred to as "New Sears") is an American privately held company formed on February 11, 2019, to acquire some of the assets of Sears Holdings Corporation. The new company is owned by ESL ...

completed the acquisition of the remainder of Sears Hometown at the end of the same business day. In April 2020, Sears Outlet was merged into American Freight and the stores were rebranded American Freight. *

; facilitates refund-based tax settlement financial products, including tax preparation, refund anticipation loans, electronic refund checks, and personal income tax refund discounting. Liberty Tax Service conducts its business in the United States. * Badcock Home Furniture &more; furniture store chain with over 370 company and dealer owned furniture stores in eight states across the southeastern United States. *

; supplemental learning centers which provide personalized instruction in reading, writing, mathematics, study skills, homework support, and test preparation for college entrance and state exams. *

; offers nutritional supplements in every 785 stores across the U.S., as well as online. Acquired by Franchise Group in December 2019 after Irving Place Capital sold the remaining shares of the company and its division, Super Supplements to Franchise Group in the same year.

References

External links

* {{authority control Holding companies of the United States American companies established in 2019 Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2024 Franchises Companies formerly listed on the Nasdaq 2023 mergers and acquisitions