Bradlees

The final Bradlees logo and slogan before its 2001 bankruptcy and closure

The first major Bradlees store closings came in 1988, when it exited the Southern United States. Bradlees remained profitable into the early 1990s. In 1992, a year after its parent company becoming public once again, Stop & Shop Inc. sold Bradlees to an investment group, and the chain continued as a separate company. By 1994, the company was unprofitable after attempting to open several new stores in New Jersey and New York. After losing money for 2 years, Bradlees had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in June 1995, and closed down some underperforming stores, (including its only two stores in Rhode Island[4]) in 1996. Some of these were turned into Ames stores.

James Zamberlan, previously senior vice president of Lazarus Department Stores, was appointed as executive vice president of Bradlees on August 25, 1995.[5] The company successfully emerged from bankruptcy in February 1999 after making a decent profit through 1998 and early 1999. Bradlees also took advantage of the liquidation and closure of competitor Caldor shortly after its emergence from bankruptcy, and purchased several of its former stores.

The fortunes of Bradlees took a turn for the worse in 2000, and on December 26, 2000, the company announced a filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection, and said that Bradlees would begin liquidation sales as soon as possible, ending business. Executives of Bradlees said it filed for bankruptcy protection because of a general economic downturn, including rising interest rates and higher gas and heating-oil prices that had left customers with less disposable income. The executives also said new competition, unseasonable weather in the first half of 2000, and the tightening of trade credit contributed to its inability to operate profitably.

In an interview just before the chain closed, analyst Eric Beder of Ladenburg Thalmann & Co. said, "They really needed a perfect economy to get this thing moved", referring to the attempt at recovery after the restructuring of the company. "But the recent consumer spending slowdown did not facilitate that environment", he said.

A vacant West Deptford, NJ Bradlees store in 2007, this was a former Jefferson Ward location that Montgomery Ward sold to Bradlees when they decided to discontinue the chain. This location space is now occupied by multiple stores.

In early January 2001, the chain started their liquidation sales, and the final store closed on March 15, 2001. At the time of its liquidation, the company had 10,000 employees and 105 stores in seven states. Many of its former store locations were purchased by Walmart, although other locations became Big Lots, Staples, Super Buy Rite, The Home Depot, Forman Mills, Shaw's Star Market, Target, Kohl's, Burlington Coat Factory, Ocean State Job Lot, Bob's Stores, Marshalls, Dollar Tree, ShopRite, National Wholesale Liquidators, or Stop & Shop. Stop & Shop owned much of its real estate even after it spun off the company. Stop & Shop was acquired by Ahold in 1996, and some former Bradlees were sold to other Ahold divisions, such as Giant.

When the Nasdaq stock market suspended trading in Bradlees stock, it closed at just under 22 cents.