Loehmann's Remains Open Despite Bankruptcy

All Loehmann's stores remain open for business, including the store at Loehmann's Plaza on North Druid Hills Road, a spokesperson said today, with their future to be determined in a January federal bankruptcy hearing.

The Bronx-based Loehmann's, with 40 stores including one in Dunwoody, filed for its third bankruptcy this week. Melissa Krantz, spokesperson for the 92-year-old company, said it is business as usual until the bankruptcy court in New York hears the case Jan. 4.

“We are talking to potential partners, and acquisition of our assets is one of the items we’re discussing,” Krantz said in an earlier interview. She repeated Friday that Loehmann's can't speculate what a potential acquiring partner would choose to do with those assets.

Assets include the existing leases and store inventory.

She stressed that the stores will be open for the foreseeable future, with no plans to close or liquidate. Signs in the store windows indicate that everything is 30% off.

Loehmann's Plaza lost a major tenant this summer when OfficeMax closed. That closing came after the merger of Office Depot and OfficeMax in February. Office Depot has a store in the Toco Hills Shopping Center.

According to published reports, Loehmann's executives cited two main reasons for the company's current financial problems -- its slowness in introducing e-commerce to customers and declining economic conditions in such states as California, New York, Florida and the Midwest.