After buying the intellectual property rights in bankruptcy court, Retail Ecommerce Ventures said it will relaunch Stein Mart as an online-only store early next year.
Stein Mart Inc., the Jacksonville-based fashion retailer, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy Aug. 12 and closed down its operations, including 281 stores.
Miami-based Retail Ecommerce Ventures, or REV, is a company formed last year that is acquiring the rights to defunct retail brands and relaunching them online.
A subsidiary of REV called Stein Mart Online Inc. submitted a winning bid of $6.02 million for Stein Mart’s intellectual property in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Florida, Jacksonville Division.
U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Jerry Funk approved the sale at a court hearing last week.
“Our growing set of investors sees Stein Mart as another important addition to our increasing stable of venerable brick-and-mortar retail brands that we are bringing back-to-life as online destinations,” REV Chief Executive Alex Mehr said in a Dec. 2 news release.
“With 281 stores in 30 states at the time of its bankruptcy filing in August, Stein Mart was a beloved destination for off-price shoppers in the Southeast, Texas, Arizona and California,” Mehr said.
REV said it acquired the Stein Mart name, its private label brands, domain names, social media assets and customer data.
REV says the company was created “to renew businesses that have struggled in the age of ecommerce.”
REV most recently acquired the rights to RadioShack.com and relaunched the website of that electronics retailer two weeks ago.
The company said that followed the successful relaunching of e-commerce businesses for Pier 1 Imports and Dressbarn.
REV Executive Chairman Tai Lopez said in the release Stein Mart's investment in its omnichannel platform has been successful in growing online sales.
