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Popular home goods chain files for bankruptcy amid tariff trouble

Allan

Allan

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At Home has 262 stores in 40 states and employs 10,000 Americans.

If a company this large can be snuffed out by tariffs imagine what medium and small businesses are going through.

At Home, a popular home goods retailer with 260 stores across 40 US states, has filed for bankruptcy, citing the backdrop of tariff increases and a slowdown in consumer spending.

The Dallas-based company announced Monday that it had entered an agreement with its lenders that “will eliminate substantially all” of its roughly $2 billion in debt and provide $200 million in fresh funding to keep At Home operating while it navigates the Chapter 11 process.
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Allan said:
At Home has 262 stores in 40 states and employs 10,000 Americans.

If a company this large can be snuffed out by tariffs imagine what medium and small businesses are going through.



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I'm not sure it's the fault of the tariffs. I don't think a company on solid financial ground goes under in a few months because of the tariffs we have seen. We have one where I live and I never see the parking lot with a lot of traffic except maybe Christmas season. I'be been in the store twice and bought a little.
 
Integrityrespec said:
I'm not sure it's the fault of the tariffs. I don't think a company on solid financial ground goes under in a few months because of the tariffs we have seen. We have one where I live and I never see the parking lot with a lot of traffic except maybe Christmas season. I'be been in the store twice and bought a little.
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A company paying +25% for their goods will sink very quickly.

At Home is almost 50 years old so they've had some success, until now.

You observation of their parking lot is meaningless.
 
Unless you see overall growth in new homes and more housing units being built this is a tough business to be in. You have to compete with lowes and home depot and the mother of all competitors, Amazon.
 
dmpi said:
Unless you see overall growth in new homes and more housing units being built this is a tough business to be in.
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I'm not sure about that. I think home improvement companies do well when people keep and renovate their homes.
 
I believe we are in the era where bankruptcy is evidence of smart business management – it is simply a sound decision to not pay prior monetary obligations.
 
Isidore said:
I believe we are in the era where bankruptcy is evidence of smart business management – it is simply a sound decision to not pay prior monetary obligations.
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….or taxes….
 
Allan said:
A company paying +25% for their goods will sink very quickly.

At Home is almost 50 years old so they've had some success, until now.

You observation of their parking lot is meaningless.
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Maybe he drives by only on Sunday mornings. Who knows.
 
Allan said:
At Home has 262 stores in 40 states and employs 10,000 Americans.

If a company this large can be snuffed out by tariffs imagine what medium and small businesses are going through.



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I noticed the company was taken private in an LBO in 2021 by Hellman and Friedman. At the time of the buyout, it had over 260 stores, all corporate-owned. Like many home decor chains during the Covid-19 pandemic, it made bank. But instead of using that money to pay down some of its $2 billion in debt, its risk-taking owners gambled on a rapid expansion into 40 states that came up snake-eyes. And you think that happened due to tariffs? That’s BS. Many firms front-loaded purchases because they knew what was coming. In any case, these tariffs were either delayed and delayed again by “TACO,” or larger importers adapted and for the most part managed to avoid them. A few months of tariffs didn’t sink this company. Poor ownership-
management did.
 
Good. That store is totally unappealing. They sold a bunch of merchandise you can get at Walmart or on Amazon for way less money.
 
trixare4kids said:
Good. That store is totally unappealing. They sold a bunch of merchandise you can get at Walmart or on Amazon for way less money.
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Wait... what? I don't believe that it is unappealing to send similar merchandise for way less money.
 
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