Seven Store Brands Closing Stores

Liberated Brands LLC (Costa Mesa, Calif.), which filed for bankruptcy earlier this month, is closing its Billabong, Quiksilver and Volcom stores in the U.S. report a variety of news sources, including USA Today. Liberated Brands has 124 retail locations across the country and also runs the Spyder, RVCA, Roxy and Honolua chains.

In a declaration supporting the bankruptcy filing, Liberated Brands CEO Todd Hymel said, “Macroeconomic issues, including a rapid and dramatic rise in interest rates, persistent inflation, supply chain delays, a decline in customer demand well below the historical trendline, shifting consumer preferences, and substantial fixed costs placed significant pressure on Liberated’s revenue and cost structure.”

Liberated, a unit of New York-based Authentic Brands Group, owes $83 million in secured debt and $143 million in unsecured debt, according to Hymel’s declaration.

A pop-up on Billabong’s, Quiksilver’s and Volcom’s U.S. websites notifies customers of the bankruptcy filing and informs them that they will no longer accept gift cards as a form of payment online or in-store after Feb. 16, per USA Today. It is unclear if the retail stores plan to close by Feb. 16, but a separate declaration supporting the bankruptcy said Liberated Brands had about $3.3 million of cash on hand on Feb. 10, which would only support its operations for one week.

The newspaper noted that the seven brands operated by Liberated may not be gone forever, as the company said it is “transitioning its brand licenses to new license holders as part of a management transition to ensure continuity for the brands and their success moving forward.”