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Tampa Bay’s Historic W.S. Badcock to Cease Operations Following $2B Bankruptcy

by Cory White
0 comments 2 minutes read

W.S. Badcock, one of Tampa Bay’s oldest and once one of its largest private companies, is winding down operations as its parent company faces a potential full-chain liquidation in Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

The financial turmoil stems from Conn’s Inc.’s (Nasdaq: CONN) troubled acquisition of Badcock in December 2023. The Houston-based furniture and appliance retailer cited rising costs and declining sales when it filed for bankruptcy with $1.95 billion in debt on July 23 in the Northern District of Texas.

Badcock will lay off its entire workforce as it winds down, according to a notice filed with the Florida Department of Commerce. In 2021, it had approximately 1,200 employees, according to Tampa Bay Business Journal research. While the current number of employees is unknown, the company will terminate 101 corporate employees when it shutters its Mulberry headquarters in September, the notice states.

A spokesperson for Badcock declined to comment. Conn’s did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Prior to merging with Conn’s, the 120-year-old furniture retailer was the region’s 13th-largest private company, boasting nearly $1 billion in annual revenue and 374 stores in the Southeast, primarily Georgia and Florida.

Badcock had already closed 35 retail locations before the bankruptcy filing, as part of Conn’s effort to liquidate inventory and close 20% of its 553 retail locations, CEO Norman Miller stated in a court declaration.

Conn’s is in discussions with potential buyers and may sell all of its storefronts, a spokesperson told the Houston Business Journal. The company has requested court approval to initiate closing sales “at all retail locations,” which it hopes to complete by Oct. 31, according to court documents.

Conn’s had 3,800 employees in 15 states at the time of the filing and reported $1.34 billion in annual revenue last year, financial statements show.

Facing macroeconomic headwinds and poor market conditions for a potential rescue deal, Conn’s pursued bankruptcy “to obtain the time and breathing room necessary to continue store closing sales at retail locations, as well as pursue a court-supervised marketing and sale process,” Miller stated in the declaration.

Badcock ended five generations of family ownership in 2021 when it sold to a larger rival, Franchise Group Inc., in a $581 million deal.

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