LL Flooring Is Closing Over 400 Remaining Locations and Selling Off All Assets

Formerly known as Lumber Liquidators, LL Flooring is closing every one of its 442 stores in the U.S. In August, the home improvement giant, once a major rival of Home Depot, filed for bankruptcy and began a restructuring plan, which included seeking a buyer for the company.

However, after failed negotiations with several bidders, LL Flooring started shutting down operations this week. As of Sept. 6, closing sales at all remaining locations have begun. These sales will last for the next 12 weeks, according to CEO Charles Tyson, with “the timing of closures varying from store to store.”

“Under Chapter 11 rules, the Company is required to achieve the highest or otherwise best offer for the Company’s business or assets and, in this case, it was determined that a sale of the Company’s individual assets, holding closing sales at our stores and winding down the business will deliver the most value to its creditors,” the company wrote in a recent statement.

About 2,000 LL Flooring workers will be out of work once the store closings are complete, which initially began with 94 shuttered last month. Customers can still place orders both online and in stores up until the shutdown concludes. No new installation orders can be placed after Sept. 6, and any outstanding installation orders will be completed over the next 30 days. Any customers who paid a deposit cannot cancel or get refunds for any orders.

With consumers struggling with inflation and increased borrowing costs, sales for LL Flooring have been declining. Prior to the bankruptcy, reported net sales fell 21.7% this year.

Tom Sullivan started Lumber Liquidators out of the back of a pickup truck in 1994. By cutting out wood wholesalers and negotiating directly with mills, he was able to offer a lower price than the competition. Experiencing years of success, Sullivan ultimately left the company in 2017.

After harmful levels of formaldehyde were found in some of its Chinese-made flooring products, Lumber Liquidators had to pay $33 million in fines in 2019. In a 2015 undercover video made available to the CBS News program “60 Minutes,” several suppliers admitted that the company was not complying with formaldehyde emission standards. Lumber Liquidators changed its name to LL Flooring in 2021.