chapter 7: March 2009 Archives

Online retailer Home Decor Products is closing all nine of its businesses. The company filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy Thursday and has begun liquidating assets. Home Decor, which had more than $83 million in sales last year, considered but rejected a Chapter 11 filing that would have kept the business operational.

Home Decor Products' sites, including HomeClick.com, AbsoluteHome.com, Barbecues.com, PoolClick.com, are not accepting orders, and the sites have a variety of messages posted on them, from goodbyes to "temporarily for browsing only" announcements. The corporate web site at HDPI.com has been taken offline.

This is a strange one. Dial-a-Mattress, infamous for their late-night commercials, saw sales fall to $100 million, from $170 million two years ago, and now:

Creditors filed an involuntary Chapter 7 bankruptcy petition against Dial-a-Mattress last week, seeking $1.7 million. The company is seeking to convert that to a Chapter 11 reorganization.

Sleepy's said in a statement on Tuesday that it would provide debtor-in-possession financing to help Dial-a-Mattress operate. The financing is subject to bankruptcy court approval.

Meadowbrook Farms, a cooperative of more than 200 family hog farm members who used a central processing plant in Illinois, has filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy. The cooperative owed its members money, having had a cash crunch shortfall because of a large default by a purchaser.

Dial-A-Mattress, the well-known mattress retailer who owns 1-800-MATTRESS and 1800mattress.com, has had an involuntary Chapter 7 bankruptcy motion filed against it by three of its creditors. The trio are reportedly angry that 1800mattress.com is not paying its bills. Just last week Dial-A-Mattress announced a plan to be sold to a business entity called Dial Mattress Acquisition LLC, which promised a "swift" injection of cash to keep the company running.

The bankruptcy filing does not affect 1800mattress.com franchisees throughout New England, who noted business continues as usual at their stores.