Neiman Marcus Group is preparing to seek bankruptcy protection as soon as this week.
According to the New York Post, the high-end retail chain will become the first major US department store operator to succumb to the economic breakdown brought on by the coronavirus outbreak.
The Dallas-based company, which is riddled with debt, has been left with limited options as the pandemic forced it to temporarily shut all 43 of its stores, including their Neiman Marcus locations, nearly two dozen Last Call stores and its two Bergdorf Goodman stores in New York. The company has already furloughed many of its roughly 14,000 employees.
Last week, Neiman Marcus skipped millions of dollars in debt payments, including one that only gave the company a few days to avoid a default. The retail chain is in the final stages of negotiating a loan with its creditors totaling hundreds of millions of dollars, which would sustain some of its operations during the impending bankruptcy proceedings.
Other department store operators are also struggling to avoid this same fate. Macy’s Inc and Nordstrom Inc have been rushing to try and secure new financing by borrowing against some of their real estate holdings.
