Kitchenware, tabletop and home décor products merchant Lifetime Brands announced Monday it will close all of its remaining 53 stores, including 39 Pfaltzgraff factory stores, eight Farberware outlet stores and six clearance stores.
The Garden City, NY-based company, which will continue to operate its Internet and catalog businesses, has agreed to a joint venture with Gordon Brothers Retail Partners and Hilco Merchant Resources, to manage and operate inventory clearance sales at the stores.
The clearance sales will run through the end of this year. Lifetime has also entered into an agreement with RCS Real Estate Advisors to handle terminating the leases for the stores.
“Despite the many actions we have taken to streamline and improve the operations of the retail stores, in today’s difficult retail environment they have continued to encumber our company’s earnings,” said Lifetime Brands chairman/president/CEO Jeffrey Siegel. “In addition to eliminating this burden, today’s actions will enable us to focus our efforts on growing our core wholesale business.”
Lifetime Brands also plans to close its York, PA, distribution center next year. The company earlier this year opened a 753,000-sq.-ft. fulfillment facility in Fontana, CA.