Francesca’s Files for Bankruptcy With Pandemic Toll Growing

  • Retailer has lined up financing and potential new owner
  • Clothing chain joins growing list of merchants going bust

Francesca’s store in Ohio earlier in November.

Photographer: Stephen Zenner/SOPA/Getty Images

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Boutique women’s clothing chain Francesca’s Holdings Corp. filed for bankruptcy after the pandemic eroded the company’s already flagging sales.

The Houston-based company sought Chapter 11 protection in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware late Thursday with plans to sell the business, according to a statementBloomberg Terminal. TerraMar Capital LLC or an affiliate has agreed to become the stalking-horse bidder in a court-supervised auction, and Francesca’s existing lender, Tiger Finance LLC, has committed to provide a $25 million bankruptcy loan, the retailer said.