Levitz Home Furnishings, Inc. to Focus Operations on Profitable West Coast and New York Metropolitan Markets

Furniture World Magazine

Levitz Home Furnishings, Inc. ("Levitz") announced that it will be focusing future operations on the profitable West Coast and New York metropolitan areas, exiting the Connecticut and greater Philadelphia markets. The Company announced that its assets had been purchased by retail investment specialist Prentice Capital Management LP ("Prentice Capital") in partnership with Great American Group. "The decision to focus on our most profitable markets is a strategic decision, designed to strengthen Levitz Home Furnishings for the long term," said Jonathan Duskin, Managing Partner of Prentice Capital Management LP. "We are taking these actions to serve our customers more efficiently by strengthening our business model and rationalizing our store base to better leverage our marketing activities and improve our supply chain." Following this operational realignment, Levitz will have 79 stores in the profitable West Coast and New York metropolitan markets. Stores scheduled for closing and liquidation over the coming weeks include: - Connecticut: Danbury, Manchester, Milford, Newington, Norwalk, Plainville and Stamford. - Pennsylvania: Downington, Fairless Hills, Hatfield, King of Prussia, Langhorne, Philadelphia, Plymouth Meeting, Reading, Springfield and Whitehall. - New Jersey: Cherry Hill, Deptford, Lawrenceville, Livingston, Mays Landing, River Edge, and Wall Township. - Delaware: Claymont, Newark, and Wilmington. - Minnesota: St. Paul. - New York: Nesconset (Clearance Center) and Queens (Queens Boulevard). - Arizona: Scottsdale . - California: Cathedral City, Glendale (Clearance Center), Oxnard. The liquidations will be handled by Great American Group, a nationwide investment firm with extensive experience in furniture industry asset performance optimization and disposition. The Company will meet all of its obligations to its customers in the markets it is exiting, including the fulfillment of all existing orders with product. The Company also announced that it will continue to pay affected employees through at least January 31, 2006, and expects to make every effort to place affected associates at remaining stores. The case number for Levitz's filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York is #05-45189, and the Court's web site is http://www.nysb.uscourts.gov. About Levitz Home Furnishings, Inc.: Levitz Home Furnishings, Inc. is a leading specialty retailer of furniture in the United States with 79 locations in major metropolitan areas, principally the Northeast and on the West Coast of the United States. Additional information about the company and its brands is available at http://www.levitz.com/.