Today Shopko announced that it has filed voluntary petitions for financial restructuring under the the United States Bankruptcy Code.
According to a press release, during the restructuring process Shopko will continue to operate but will be closing 38 stores, relocating over 20 Optical centers to freestanding locations, and auctioning off its pharmacy business. Throughout this process, all Shopko Optical centers and pharmacies will remain open.
As of Wednesday morning, Shopko had not yet released the list of affected locations. It has stores in Marshfield, Neillsville, and Abbotsford.
[update: Marshfield store not listed among closures.]
The company has obtained $480 million in financing to continue operations.
“This decision is a difficult, but necessary one,” said Russ Steinhorst, Chief Executive Officer. “In a challenging retail environment, we have had to make some very tough choices, but we are confident that by operating a smaller and more focused store footprint, we will be able to build a stronger Shopko that will better serve our customers, vendors, employees and other stakeholders through this process.”
The company plans to grow its optical business and open additional optical locations in 2019, encouraged by the success of four that opened last year.
Shopko stated that business trends have been difficult over the past few years, like many retailers, and that its actions are intended to give additional time and financial flexibility to consider their options, including a possible sale of the company.
