Retail Discounter Fred’s Files For Chapter 11 Bankruptcy, To Close All Its Stores

Discount retailer Fred’s announced Monday it is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and closing all of its stores. The company said liquidation sales at retail locations will be completed over the next 60 days. The bankruptcy is a sign that cost-cutting measures such as the shuttering of hundreds of unprofitable stores and inventory clearance sales didn’t work. Fred’s has been reporting yearly losses since 2015, and it sold its pharmacy files to Walgreens in 2018. Merger talks with Walgreens and Rite Aid had also fallen through in June 2017 amid federal antitrust concerns, leaving the fate of the company uncertain. Read more at CNBC.