American Apparel gets nod to shutter nine stores

American Apparel’s financial saga is winding down.



A week after getting court approval to use the remainder of its $30 million bankruptcy loan, the specialty retailer is entering the next phase of its journey — the closure of nine under-performing stores. These units, located in New York, Washington, D.C., Seattle, Atlanta, Dallas, Memphis, Santa Cruz, Calif., Evanston, Ill., and Burlington, Vt., will close by Dec. 31.



U.S. Bankruptcy court judge Brendan Shannon approved an agreement with American Apparel’s liquidators Merchant Resources LLC and Gordon Brothers Retail Partners LLC, on Monday, Dec. 19, a move that gives the company permission to begin “going out of business” sales for the next two weeks.



Stores that remain unsold during an auction on Jan. 9, will be closed and sold by the liquidators by April 30, 2017, according to The Wall Street Journal.



The specialty retailer estimates that the liquidation sales will generate about $600,000 in income for the company, and the location closures will save about $200,000 a month in rent, The Consumerist said.



American Apparel filed Chapter 11 in November, its second bankruptcy proceeding in 15 months.