A private-equity firm in Texas is poised to buy 17 Michigan locations of shuttered and bankrupt Art Van Furniture and may reopen the stores under a new name and rehire some of their laid-off employees.
A U.S. bankruptcy judge late last week approved the $6.9-million deal, which includes 10 additional Art Van and Levin and Wolf furniture locations outside Michigan. The sale is expected to close sometime this week and, altogether, involves the purchase of inventory and assets for 27 leased store locations in six states, according to court documents.
The deal doesn't include those stores' real estate, most of which was sold off in 2017 as part of the Van Elslander family's $612.5 million sale of their metro Detroit-based furniture company to private-equity firm Thomas H. Lee Partners of Boston.
Several stores in the deal are located in such metro Detroit cities as Warren, Livonia, Royal Oak and Taylor, among others.
The new prospective buyer is a limited liability company controlled by Dallas-based private-equity firm US Assets Inc. US Assets was started in 2014 by a Texan named John Love "with the purpose of purchasing existing companies by providing fresh capital, increased liquidity and monetization of existing assets," according to the company's website.
Court documents say the company could rehire employees for the 27 locations. The locations represent about 20% of the store footprint for Art Van and its Levin and Wolf furniture stores.
The US Assets Facebook page says it is preparing to open a new business called Loves Furniture. The announcement, first reported by trade journal Furniture Today, doesn't say whether Loves Furniture will be a rebranding of former Art Van stores.
More: New hope for Art Van customers who paid, but didn't get merchandise
More: Art Van Furniture to close its stores, begin liquidation sales
The company did not respond Monday to a message seeking comment. Art Van's court-appointed bankruptcy trustee also didn't respond to comment requests.
US Assets' website says it typically invests in lower- and middle-market businesses with between $5 million and $50 million in pre-tax earnings. It reports an eclectic mix of portfolio companies, including a chain of urgent care centers, a large dirt biking and off-roading park in Texas, the Penguin Point chicken and burger chain in Indiana and an Arizona dog grooming and boarding business.
Art Van Furniture filed for Chapter 11 reorganization bankruptcy on March 9 and the case later converted into a Chapter 7 liquidation. All of its 169 locations in multiple states closed, and about 1,000 Michigan employees were laid off.
Art Van stopped its liquidation sales the weekend of March 21 due to the coronavirus pandemic. Since then, numerous customers have made complaints online and to the Free Press about having paid for merchandise during the going-out-of-business sales, but never receiving it.
Excluded from the pending sale is any furniture inside the stores that Art Van sold to customers during its going-out-of-business sale. It was unclear Monday whether any effort would be made to allow the customers to retrieve the merchandise.
Crain's Detroit reported in March that Gary Van Elslander, a son of Art Van founder Archie Van Elslander, had submitted a bid to the bankruptcy court for the Art Van brand name and trademark. A representative for the Van Elsander family did not return a message Monday regarding the status of that bid.
The 17 Michigan locations in the pending sale are:
- Taylor store
- Royal Oak store
- 8 Mile location in Warren
- Livonia store
- Waterford Store
- Saginaw store
- Burton store
- Bay City store
- Portage store
- Shelby Township store
- Westland store
- Ann Arbor store
- Port Huron store
- Howell store
- Muskegon store
- Battle Creek
- Petoskey store
The other 10 Art Van or Levin and Wolf locations are in:
- Schaumburg, Illinois
- Woodward, Illinois
- Columbus, Ohio
- McMurray, Pennsylvania
- Pittsburgh
- Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
- Altoona, Pennsylvania
- Leesburg, Virginia
- Mr. Pleasant, Pennsylvania
- Towson, Maryland
Contact JC Reindl at 313-222-6631 or jcreindl@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @jcreindl. Read more on business and sign up for our business newsletter.
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Some Art Van Furniture stores could reopen under a new name - Detroit Free Press
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