Pier 1 Imports closing up to 450 stores as sales slump

Pier 1 Imports closing up to 450 stores. Photo via Mike Mozart / CC BY 2.0

Pier 1 Imports said Monday it plans to close as many as 450 stores — almost half its outlets — as part of a restructuring that will dramatically downsize the furniture seller.

The company also said it plans to lay off employees at its corporate offices in Fort Worth, Texas, but it did not say how many.

Pier 1 named Robert Riesbeck, a restructuring expert, as its CEO in November. On Monday, he said the store closings will better align the company with the “current operating environment” and refocus it as an “omni-channel retailer.”

The store closings follow a financial quarter in which the company’s sales tumbled 13% from a year ago. That resulted in a loss of $59 million in its fiscal third quarter, which ended in November.

Shares of the company dropped nearly 17% on Monday to just over $5. Pier 1’s stock price has plunged 94% in the past two years.

Bloomberg on Monday reported that Pier 1 is considering bankruptcy. The company is one of many large retailers that have shuttered stores or gone bankrupt in recent years amid intense competition from e-commerce.

The Associated Press contributed reporting to this article.

First published on January 6, 2020 / 6:23 PM