Bowing to pressure from the Unsecured Creditors Committee, Joseph-Beth Booksellers is putting four of its stores and its assets up for auction. The bidding deadline is April 19. The auction will take place no later than April 22, with a court approval hearing slated for April 27.
Late last month, 30 days before Joseph-Beth’s reorganization plan was due, the Committee submitted a scathing filing about the bookseller’s ability to emerge from chapter 11. In addition to Joseph-Beth not obtaining exit financing, the Committee said, “[they] have not provided any explanation of how they plan to turn around their underperforming business, and thus have demonstrated no likelihood of proposing a feasible, confirmable Plan.”
In response Joseph-Beth has asked the court for permission to begin a closing sale at its Fredericksburg, Va., location as early as a week from today. The sale, which would end on June 30, would be handled by Gordon Brothers Retail Partners, which helped close two of the four stores in liquidated at the time of the bankruptcy filing last November.
According to filing for the auction, Joseph-Beth says that it believes the remaining four stores in Lexington, Ky., Cincinnati, Memphis, and Vicksburg, as well as a fifth niche health and wellness store in the Cleveland Clinic in Cleveland, can operate at a profit and be part of a successful reorganization. It will continue to operate those stores during the bidding process.
