On Tuesday, Business of Home broke the news that Minneapolis-based home e-commerce site Bellacor had halted operations. Now court filings have come to light indicating that on May 8, the company filed for an ABC, or “assignment for the benefit of creditors”—a bankruptcy-like legal process in which a troubled company’s assets are sold by a third party to pay off its debts.
The documents, submitted in Hennepin County District Court, provide scant information about the state of Bellacor’s business and do not offer a clear picture of the company’s assets or liabilities. However, they do include a list of more than 1,300 creditors who are now in line to be paid back with the proceeds of an eventual sale.
The list includes a few dozen well-known home brands—including Visual Comfort, Hooker Furniture, Uttermost and Regina Andrew—alongside hundreds of homeowners, a handful of design firms and a few former Bellacor employees.
The case is now in the hands of a company called Lighthouse Management Group, which will steward the sale of Bellacor, either whole or in parts. (A company is usually worth more sold as a single entity than as a collection of assets, but the former is more difficult once a brand has ceased operations.) The retailer’s Saint Paul–based showroom business, Creative Lighting, will also be sold.
Bellacor’s senior leadership did not respond to a request for comment.
