After liquidation announcement, LL Flooring finds buyer, allowing one Central Mass. store to remain open
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LL Flooring in Shrewsbury
After previously announcing it was liquidating its assets and closing its stores as part of bankruptcy proceedings, the retailer formerly known as Lumber Liquidators has found a buyer for its assets, a move that should allow one of its three Central Massachusetts locations to remain open.
F9 Investments, a Florida-based private equity firm owned by LL founder Tom Sullivan, has agreed to purchase 219 stores, the company's inventory, and LL’s distribution center in Virginia for an undisclosed amount, according to a press release from Virginia-based LL Flooring announced on Friday.
LL locations in Framingham and Leominster will still close by November as originally planned, according to a list of store closures on the company’s website, but the deal will allow the LL Flooring location at 835 Hartford Turnpike in Shrewsbury to remain open, one of 219 stores to be saved by the pending sale.
“We are pleased to have reached this agreement with F9 Investments for a going-concern sale following significant efforts by our team and advisors to preserve the business and maintain ongoing operations,” Charles Tyson, president and CEO of LL Flooring, said in the Friday press release. “As we move through the court-supervised process toward the approval and completion of this transaction, we remain committed to continuing to serve our valued customers and working closely with our vendors and partners.”
F9 has previously proposed acquiring LL Flooring in November, citing a belief it could turn the struggling company around, according to a press release issued by the private equity firm at the time.
The sale is expected to be finalized by the end of September, subject to bankruptcy court approval and other closing conditions.
LL Flooring changed its name from Lumber Liquidators in 2021. The company has faced a number of issues over the past decade, including a 2015 “60 Minutes” investigation which found the company’s products exceed regulatory standards for formaldehyde, a finding that led to a class-action lawsuit and a $33-million penalty for misleading investors, according to CNN.
Eric Casey is a staff writer at Worcester Business Journal, who primarily covers the manufacturing and real estate industries.
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