Major Home Goods Retailer Closing Stores In NJ, Blames Bankruptcy, Tariffs

NEW JERSEY - The retailer At Home is closing dozens of its stores as part of its filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Monday.

According to court filings, 26 stores are on path to shut their doors by Sept. 30, including three of its eight in New Jersey.

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. 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.

The following stores in New Jersey will be shutting operations as part of the company's initial round of closings:

• 461 Route 10 East in Ledgewood, New Jersey
• 1361 NJ-35 in Middletown Township, New Jersey
• 301 Nassau Park Boulevard in Princeton, New Jersey

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 Monday's 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.

At Home acknowledged in the bankruptcy filings that additional store closings could be announced at a later date.

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.