LL Flooring Finds Last-Minute Buyer, Business to Remain Open
After securing a last-minute buyer, LL Flooring is reversing course on shutting down all of its stores. The hardwood flooring retailer formerly known as Lumber Liquidators signed an agreement with private equity firm F9 Investments for a sale of its business on Friday afternoon. Under terms of the deal, expected to close by the end of September, F9 will acquire 219 stores and a Virginia distribution center — as well as LL Flooring’s intellectual property and other assets. Another 211 LL Flooring stores are still set to close, however. That includes 117 locations where closings were recently initiated and 94 others that were already in the process when the Virginia company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on August 11.
Total Retail's Take: An interesting component to this transaction is that F9 is owned by Tom Sullivan, who founded Lumber Liquidators over 30 years ago. Sullivan told The Associated Press that the 219 stores set to be purchased by F9 will open under the Lumber Liquidators name again. Furthermore, Sullivan wasn't shy about voicing his displeasure with how the retail organization was operated in his absence, telling the AP: "Yellow and black is coming back ... We know what worked before. It’s not fancy offices in Richmond with 200 people that didn’t know the flooring business. It’s great people in our stores that know flooring (and) customers that want a great deal and know Lumber Liquidators is the place to go.”
So what should we expect from this next iteration of Lumber Liquidators? Sullivan noted a narrowing of the retailer's SKU count to focus on core best-sellers as well as a close alignment with Cabinets To Go, another F-9 owned brand, to help with supply chain efficiencies. Furthermore, a scaled-down brick-and-mortar store footprint will magnify the importance of digital on Lumber Liquidators' business. Growing e-commerce sales and creating a closer connection between online and offline channels will be key to the future success (or lack thereof) of LL Flooring, soon to be Lumber Liquidators.
