J.Jill gets more breathing room — again

J.Jill has once again gotten more time to keep a potential bankruptcy filing at bay. 

The struggling women’s apparel retailer, which operates 280 stores, said Thursday it has reached an agreement with lenders to extend a forbearance period to July 30, 2020, to give the company more time to complete negotiations. (Last week, J.Jill announced the period has been extended until July 23.) 

J.Jill entered into two forbearance agreements in mid-June after falling out of compliance with certain covenants on its asset-based lending and term loan credit facilities amid the COVID-19 pandemic. In a 10-K filing at the time, the company said it had doubts about its ability to remain a “going concern.”

J.Jill was struggling going into the pandemic. Same-store sales fell 3.6% in 2019 amid a $128.6 million net loss for 2019, compared to a $30.5 million profit the year before.