Major Home Retailer To Shutter MI Store This Month

Home furniture and decor retailer At Home will close a Michigan store by the end of the month as part of its Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing, the company confirmed this week.

The retailer is expected to close 30 stores across the nation by Sept. 30. That includes the store at 3100 Washtenaw Ave. in Ypsilanti.

In recent weeks, the company has been running going-out-of-business sales at the stores that are set to close. Some locations can save customers up to 30 percent.

At Home has other locations in Michigan that will remain open, including stores in Bloomfield Hills, Georgetown Township, Kalamazoo, Saginaw, Troy, Utica and Wixom.

The company points to a "challenging commercial environment brought on by both broader economic and retail-specific market pressures" and macroeconomic issues like increased tariffs for placing significant pressure on their revenue and cost structure.

At Home now has 260 locations nationwide after reducing its footprint by six stores over the past year. Nationwide, the company employs nearly 7, 200 people. The expenses associated with brick-and-mortar locations, and other issues affecting the retail industry are now causing the remaining stores to be operating at sub-optimal performance levels.

Ownership of At Home will be transferred to a group of hedge funds and other firms based in New York City and San Francisco as part of June's bankruptcy filings. The lenders hold more than 95 percent of the company's debt.

“We are pleased to have reached this agreement with our lenders, which represents a critical and positive advancement of our work to best position At Home for the future,” said Brad Weston, Chief Executive Officer of At Home said of the restructuring plan.

The company joins Big Lots, Joann Fabrics, Kohl's, JCPenney, Macy's and Party City in the group of major retailers announcing closings just this year.

Patch staffers Miranda Ceja and Eddie Callahan contributed reporting.