A national discount retailer with a half-dozen stores in Central Alberta is being forced to downsize.
TBS Acquireco Inc., The Bargain! Shop Holdings Inc. and TBS Stores Inc. — which operate The Bargain! Shop and other stores, have obtained court-ordered protection from their creditors under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act.
Their court-appointed monitor, Ernst & Young Inc., has indicated that it plans to close 64 of the chain’s 231 stores, including six in Alberta that operate under The Bargain! Shop banner.
The locations of the stores to be closed have not been disclosed.
The Bargain! Shop currently operates in Innisfail, Rocky Mountain House, Lacombe, Ponoka, Rimbey and Three Hills.
A preliminary list of creditors indicates that secured creditors are owed a total of $52.3 million and unsecured creditors a further $71.5 million.
Originally the Canadian division of the Woolworth’s retail chain, The Bargain! Shop is headquartered in Mississauga, Ont.
Its stores carry a broad array of products, including clothing, food and housewares.