Loves Furniture, the company that took over many shuttered Art Van Furniture locations last summer, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
The filing, which happened late Wednesday in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Detroit, comes less than a year after Art Van Furniture's bankruptcy, which turned into a total liquidation for the storied furniture brand that began in the 1950s and grew into the Midwest's top furniture and mattress retailer.
Loves Furniture has been under financial pressure since almost the day it opened, and recently announced it would close numerous locations and keep just 13 stores open — 12 in Michigan and one outside Toledo.
The bankruptcy filing offered few details about Loves Furniture's problems, but said the company has between 100 and 199 creditors and $10 million to $50 million in liabilities.
A Loves representative could not be reached for comment Thursday morning, although an attorney for the company said an announcement could be coming soon.
Loves Furniture went into business in late summer after a Texas-based private equity firm, US Assets Inc., whose founder and CEO is named Jeff Love, bought 27 shuttered Art Van stores in Michigan, plus 10 other Art Van and Levin and Wolf locations in other states.
In a December interview, Loves Furniture CEO Mack Peters told the Free Press that Loves was struggling to fill its stores with fresh inventory because of pandemic-related supply issues affecting the furniture industry, resulting in long delivery delays that turned off customers. The company also has a growing stack of unpaid vendor bills, including from Detroit-based Fairmont Sign Co. that says it is owed more than $700,000.
