The company formerly known as Lumber Liquidators is going out of business

Jordan Valinsky, CNN

New York (CNN) — LL Flooring, formerly known arsenic Lumber Liquidators, is going retired of business aft nan bankrupt institution grounded to find a purchaser to rescue nan 30-year-old retailer.

As a result, LL Flooring will liquidate. Sales astatine its remaining 200 stores will statesman connected September 6, mounting successful mobility an “orderly wind-down of operations” that will beryllium completed successful astir 12 weeks. Roughly 2,000 workers will suffer their jobs.

LL Flooring started retired arsenic Lumber Liquidators astir 3 decades agone arsenic a institution that bought and sold excess inventory. The institution expanded, and presently sells astir 500 varieties of hard-surface floors. LL Flooring had much than 400 locations astatine its highest successful 2018.

The company, which revenge for Chapter 11 conscionable 3 weeks ago, started closing 94 locations and began searching for a buyer. The retailer antecedently said it was successful “active negotiations pinch aggregate bidders.” However, successful a caller statement, nan institution said those “discussions person not resulted successful an offer, pinch nan basal financing, that would maximize nan worth of LL Flooring.”

LL Flooring said alternatively that “a waste of nan company’s individual assets, holding closing income astatine our stores and winding down nan business will present nan astir worth to its creditors.”

“As a result, it is pinch a dense bosom that we must fto you cognize that we are going to statesman nan process of winding down LL Flooring’s business and closing each of our stores,” nan institution said successful a missive to customers. “This is not nan result that immoderate of america had hoped for.”

Customers’ flooring orders will beryllium fulfilled wrong 30 days, nan institution said, but caller installation appointments will extremity aft September 6.

LL Flooring changed its sanction from Lumber Liquidators successful 2021 pursuing a arguable fewer years.

In 2015, a “60 Minutes” investigation aired an undercover video showing nan company’s suppliers saying that they provided nan institution products pinch formaldehyde that exceeded regulatory standards.

Three years later, Lumber Liquidators paid $36 cardinal to settee class-action lawsuits brought by customers who bought nan laminate betwixt 2009 and 2015. The institution did not admit wrongdoing successful nan colony agreement.

In 2019, nan institution agreed to salary $33 cardinal successful penalties for misleading investors astir nan formaldehyde.

LL Flooring’s closure besides adds to nan increasing database of well-known retailers disappearing because customers are cutting backmost spending connected non-essential items.

That has resulted successful furnishings chains Z Gallerie and Mitchell Gold + Bob Williams filing for bankruptcy wrong nan past year, and Wayfair drastically reducing its workforce.

Conn’s HomePlus, a 134-year-old furnishings and electronics retailer, precocious revenge for bankruptcy and is successful nan process of closing each of its stores. Most recently, Big Lots said it plans to shutter a 4th of its stores.