Clothing retailer to shut three Maryland stores amid bankruptcy filing

Express Inc. is closing more than 100 stores across multiple brands – including three in Maryland – as a potential sale looms.

The retailer also said it has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Delaware.

The Columbus, Ohio-based retailer said Monday that a consortium led by WHP Global and including a subsidiary of Simon Property Group LP and Brookfield Properties have sent the company a nonbinding letter of intent to acquire a “substantial majority” of Express’ retail stores and operations.

“We are taking an important step that will strengthen our financial position and enable Express to continue advancing our business initiatives,” CEO Stewart Glendinning said in a release. “WHP has been a strong partner to the company since 2023, and the proposed transaction will provide us additional financial resources, better position the business for profitable growth and maximize value for our stakeholders.”

WHP previously acquired a minority stake in Express and the two entities formed a joint venture to grow the brand internationally.

The company said the bankruptcy process will facilitate the sale and that it has received a $35 million commitment for new financing from “certain of its existing lenders” and $49 million in CARES Act funds from the IRS.

Express said that it will close 95 of its namesake stores and all 12 UpWest brick-and-mortar locations, with store closing sales beginning Tuesday. That cut represents about one-sixth of Express’ store base. It’ll leave the retailer with roughly 430 Express and Express Factory Outlet stores and 60 Bonobos Guideshops. The company said the remaining stores will continue to operate as normal, as will all online retail operations, including those for UpWest.

Among the 95 Express-branded stores slated to close are three in Maryland:

After the closure, Express will have four stores in Maryland, including at Towson Town Center, the Westfield Annapolis, the Mall in Columbia and Westfield Montgomery in Bethesda. It will also have seven Express Factory Outlet stores, with the sole Baltimore-area location at Arundel Mills in Hanover. There are no UpWest stores in Maryland but there are locations in Tysons, Virginia, and in Georgetown in Washington, D.C.

Express also announced that Mark Still, who had been serving as interim CFO since last fall, is now officially the CFO. Still has been with Express since 2005.

According to Securities & Exchange Commission filings, Glendinning, who joined the company last fall as CEO, will receive a $500,000 retention bonus. Still is receiving a $429,375 retention bonus.

The company has set up a website for the bankruptcy and sale process.

The Express bankruptcy filing shows between $1 billion and $10 billion in assets and between $1 billion and $10 billion in liabilities.

The largest unsecured creditors are:

Four of the five are internationally based logistics and production companies. Chacon, with several offices in Southern California, is identified as legal services in the filing.

Express, like many heavily mall-based retailers, has struggled in the past decade. It has not yet announced 2023 results.

The company is in the midst of a cost-cutting program that reduced expenses by a projected $80 million in 2023 will a goal of another $40 million in 2024 compared with 2022’s expenses. Last year’s cuts included 150 jobs.

It was delisted from the New York Stock Exchange last month and began trading on the Over-The-Counter Pink Open Market (OTC: EXPR)

Express was founded in 1980 as a brand within what was then Les Wexner’s Limited Brands. It was sold in 2007 to Golden Gate Capital Partners and then went public as its own company in 2010.