May 13, 2020
Gordmans in Warrenton apparently will close
Photos/Lawrence Emerson
Gordmans opened March 3 in Warrenton Village Center and closed three weeks later because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A sign on the front door.
The Gordmans discount department store in Warrenton apparently will have a short life.
Closed since late March because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the store in the Warrenton Village Center will reopen Friday, May 15, to begin a liquidation sale.
Houston-based Stage Stores Inc., which owns Gordmans, this week filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as it continues to seek a buyer. A sale could halt the wind-down process.
Stage owns 738 stores in 42 states. It has 26 Gordmans stores in Virginia.
The company bought Peebles last summer and converted many of those stores to Gordmans this year.
The Warrenton store and others in the region opened under the new brand on Tuesday, March 3.
“We only got three weeks out of it,” an employee said Wednesday as she and coworkers packed inventory at the Warrenton store.
Display fixtures and shelving for sale sit on the sidewalk outside the front door.
Peebles, which traced its origin to 1891 in Southside Virginia, had operated more than five decades in Warrenton.
Stage, which also owns Bealls, Goody’s and other brands, generated $1.8 billion in revenue in 2018. But, already suffering after poor holiday sales, the company’s difficulties grew with the COVID-19 pandemic. It filed for bankruptcy protection Monday.
The company had 150 Gordmans stores by the end of 2019 and planned to covert another 150 to that brand by the middle of this year, according to a spokesman last July.
 |
|
|
Member comments
Please, be polite. Avoid name-calling and profanity.
For credibility, sign your real name; stand behind your comments. Readers will give less credence to anonymous posts.
Viyrers · June 29, 2020 at 1:42 pm
It seems to be a good store but I still prefer
Cools for my clothing purchases. I don't know, maybe this is a matter of habit or something else. I think that we (customers) have a choice and this is good for us, anyway.
Jerome Fields · May 16, 2020 at 2:38 pm
Some of these businesses have been in trouble for awhile. The pandemic just pushed them over the cliff. JCPenney for example, though it's top 4 Executives are walking away with over $7 million in compensation. Compensation for what? Running them into the ground? There lies the rub.
Rover 530 · May 15, 2020 at 5:44 pm
Gordmans, we hardly knew ye!
AngryBob · May 14, 2020 at 9:56 am
We save for a rainy day but these companies are living paycheck to paycheck.
I worked for a major international corporation that was throwing lavish parties at headquarters in January. In March they folded and laid off thousands of people. Going forward, before I invest in a company, I'd want to know they keep enough cash to survive the next Wuflu.
Mark House · May 13, 2020 at 2:16 pm
That's rough, J. Crew, Neiman Marcus, Gordmans, sadly the list is likely to get longer to include many small businesses.
Facebook comments
Enter your email address above to begin receiving
news updates from FauquierNow.com via email.
Saturday, January 16
A record 6,757 new cases in Virginia and 50 more deaths, health department reports
Friday, January 15
Her grandfather’s example led Warrenton resident Constance Houk to a career focused on cats, dogs and their owners
Friday, January 15
Decades of county government service, Master Gardener enrollees, fully vaccinated citizens and board’s brief meeting
More Fauquier news