Goody's to liquidate stores

Discount clothing chain Goody’s Family Clothing, which has a Sedalia location, will begin liquidating its stores Friday.

The move comes less than four months after the privately held retailer emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The Knoxville, Tenn.-based retailer employs about 9,800 workers in 287 stores scattered throughout 20 Midwestern and Southern states.

Employees at Sedalia’s Goody’s, at 3040 W. Broadway Blvd., said they were instructed not to speak with media about the announcement, referring questions to the corporate headquarters. Corporate representatives for the company did not respond to requests for comment.

It was business as usual at Goody’s Thursday, as many shoppers at the store had not heard about the company’s intention to liquidate its stores, and the store did not post information about its future.

Real estate developer Jerry Lechtenberg said Goody’s has occupied the building in Sedalia Crossings for more than three years, describing the announcement as a “disappointment.” He said he received no notice of the company’s intention to liquidate its stores until he heard it on the news.

Goody’s filed for bankruptcy protection in June, saying at the time that the move would help it address “pressures from tightening credit markets, strain on merchandise flow and a sizable but isolated number of underperforming stores in the chain.”

As part of its reorganization plan, the company closed and liquidated dozens of underperforming stores, shuttered a distribution center in Arkansas and a corporate office in New York. It also cut operating and corporate costs, ended its e-commerce business and an associated distribution center in Tennessee.

The 59-year-old retailer has now sought bankruptcy protection for a second time and executives with the company are speaking with competitors about whether they would like to purchase some of the chain’s stores.

Goody’s had several years left on its lease here, in addition to an option to renew the lease when it expired. However, Lechtenberg said since the company declared bankruptcy, the lease has no real value.

The value of any gift cards for the store is also in question due to the company’s second bankruptcy filing in less than a year.

Lechtenberg Real Estate Development, based in Overland Park, Kan., has started looking for a store to replace the soon-to-be vacant building, so Lechtenberg hopes the other businesses in the development can avoid any negative impact.

“It would be better for the other businesses if we had a tenant there,” Lechtenberg said.

Lechtenberg said he spoke with Goody’s management, who thought liquidation sales could begin as early as next week.

- The AP contributed to this report.