McCrory Corp. (York, Pa.), the 120-year-old retailer whose chain of discount variety stores once reached 1300 locations, has begun liquidating the assets of its 200 remaining stores in 25 states.
The retailer filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in September. It was the second time in 10 years that McCrory filed; it had operated under bankruptcy from 1992 to 1997.
Approximately 193 of the remaining stores operate under the Dollar Zone name, with all items priced at $1 or less. Other locations operate under the McCrory, McCrory Dollar, TG&Y, TG&Y Dollar, GC Murphy and JJ Newberry banners. Locations typically range in size from 6000 to 10,000 square feet in the dollar store formats and from 15,000 to 40,000 square feet for some of the older variety stores.
While 139 of the stores are located on the East Coast and in the Southeast, from Connecticut to Florida, the company also operates in Arizona, California, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, New Mexico, Ohio, Oregon, Tennessee and Texas. John Graham McCrory opened his first store in Pennsylvania's Westmoreland County in around 1880. Financier Meshulam Riklis bought the company in 1997 to take it out of bankruptcy and has acted as its chairman.
“We are hopeful that a large number of these strategically located stores will ultimately be leased to other retailers,” said Paul Buxbaum, ceo of Buxbaum Group (Encino, Calif.), the company that is managing the liquidation.