In addition to our normal news coverage, What Now Atlanta is tracking ways Atlanta’s businesses are adapting to the novel coronavirus and the challenges it brings to brick-and-mortars.
Pier 1 Imports is permanently closing all of its 540 stores after 54 years in business, including its 20 Georgia locations.
The home goods retailer Tuesday announced the news three months after filing for bankruptcy and is seeking to shut down its retail operations ASAP.
Pier 1 said that stores being unable to reopen following the government-mandated closures during the COVID-19 pandemic is the reason for pulling the plug.
“We are grateful to our dedicated and hardworking associates, millions of customers and committed vendors who have collectively supported Pier 1 for decades,” Robert Riesbeck, Pier 1’s chief executive and chief financial officer, said in a statement.
“We deeply value our associates, customers, business partners and the communities in which we operate, and this is not the outcome we expected or hoped to achieve. This decision follows months of working to identify a buyer who would continue to operate our business going forward. Unfortunately, the challenging retail environment has been significantly compounded by the profound impact of COVID-19, hindering our ability to secure such a buyer and requiring us to wind down.”
As part of the “wind-down,” the company intends to sell its inventory and remaining assets, including its intellectual property and e-commerce business, through the court-supervised process.
[Editor’s note: The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is rapidly evolving as is its effect on Atlanta, and the City’s businesses and its residents. Click here for What Now Atlanta’s ongoing coverage of the crisis. For guidance and updates on the pandemic, please visit the C.D.C. website.]
6 Responses
To me Pier 1 is/was more iconic than Jeffrey. I remember as a kid the Pier 1 next to Eckerd Drugs seemed so cool and fancy.
Are you a native Atlantan?
Not native, just old enough to have been around a long time 😉
One of my favorite housewares stores! Sad to see it go
That’s too bad. But admittedly haven’t bought anything there since sometime in the 90s, so I wasn’t helping their cause much. I think we’re about to have a lot of dead malls and empty shopping centers like you see at Gwinnett Place.
I was bummed when Radio Shack closed at Ansley…
Change can be hard.