Add another tally to the roster of victims of the post-pandemic home furnishings swoon: LL Flooring has filed for bankruptcy and is in pursuit of a white knight investor to take over what’s left of its business.

In filing for Chapter 11 in a Delaware court over the weekend, the retailer said it would immediately close 94 of its nationwide stores, securing closeout specialist Hilco to handle the going-out-of-business process. It said it expects to keep most of the rest of its nearly 400-location fleet open while it looks for someone to take over the company. The filing states that there are multiple interested bidders; if none makes a move by August 26, the company will begin to liquidate itself.

In the meantime, LL Flooring has secured $130 million in debtor-in-possession financing to fund its ongoing operations. It has also brought on Holly Etlin as chief restructuring officer. Her name may ring a bell for home furnishings veterans—she’s the longtime managing director at restructuring specialist AlixPartners who most recently played a similar role with Bed Bath & Beyond (an arrangement that didn’t work out so well for the beleaguered retailer).

In the bankruptcy filing, Etlin cited “lower levels of home improvement, decreased discretionary spending, and declining demand in the sector following highs during the early months of the pandemic” as contributing factors in LL Flooring’s struggles. The filing also indicated that the retailer had stopped paying some of its vendors, with 80 percent of its annual volume impacted by stopped shipments or unfavorable payment terms. The court papers show liabilities of between $100 million and $500 million and assets in the $500 million to $1 billion range. For context, the company did about $905 million in annual sales last year, but sales dropped nearly 22 percent in the first quarter of 2024, with an operating loss of about $28 million. LL Flooring has been warning of its worsening financial position for much of the past year, and Wall Street has taken notice, driving its stock price down 78 percent year to date.

The flooring retailer may be better known from its earlier incarnation as Lumber Liquidators. Founded in 1994, the company made headlines in 2015 when CBS’s 60 Minutes reported it was selling unsafe products. It paid a hefty fine at the time, then took on its new name in 2021.

While court filings suggest interest from potential buyers, home furnishings retailers have not had much success finding saviors over the past two years. Bed Bath & Beyond was liquidated in 2023, and while its name lives on after its intellectual assets were purchased by Overstock, it now only operates online. Tuesday Morning could not find a buyer (it, too, remains a zombie e-commerce brand), while more recently Conn’s and its W.S. Badcock subsidiary both announced they were shutting down. And we are still likely to see more businesses shutter: Other well-known value brands, including Big Lots, are also believed to be quite vulnerable in the current business climate.

For LL Flooring, the prospects don’t seem to be much more encouraging. Having AlixPartners involved is usually never a good sign for a company’s future—and as the home sector continues to struggle with the paralysis striking the real estate market, the list of potential buyers is probably short. Competitors likely to benefit the most from the company’s exit would include the home remodeling giants Home Depot and Lowe’s, as well as the Floor & Decor specialty chain.

Of course, a web-only presence is a possibility for the brand, as it has been for so many others, though this product category seems like less of a natural fit for selling exclusively online. If it ends up shutting down completely, its original name could prove to be eerily prescient.

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Warren Shoulberg is the former editor in chief for several leading B2B publications. He has been a guest lecturer at the Columbia University Graduate School of Business; received honors from the International Furnishings and Design Association and the Fashion Institute of Technology; and been cited by The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, CNN and other media as a leading industry expert. His Retail Watch columns offer deep industry insights on major markets and product categories.