Final weekend for bankrupt Stein Mart

The Jacksonville-based fashion retailer is closing its stores.

  • By Daily Record Staff
  • | 10:00 a.m. October 23, 2020
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By Karen Brune Mathis & Katie Garwood • Staff Writers

It’s the final weekend for Stein Mart stores.

Stein Mart notified customers on its email list Oct. 23 that this is the “final weekend to save.”

“Time is running out!” it said.

On Oct. 22, shoppers at several of Jacksonville’s six locations found a few final racks of clothing; tables of retail remnants of decorations, accessories and housewares; and reusable Stein Mart shopping bags, marked down to 25 cents.

Merchandise markdowns are 75%-80%. Fixtures are 75% off.

At the Harbour Village store at 13475 Atlantic Blvd., stuffed Easter bunnies, Slime and water bottles were among the finds. 

A toddler’s 2T four-piece Nautica jacket, shirt, pants and tie went for $9.96. Men’s ties were $3.25 to $4.25.

The store liquidators for the bankrupt Jacksonville fashion retailer moved merchandise to the front of the store.

Shelving, display tables, fixtures and mannequins – whole and in parts – dominated the back. 

A partial women’s mannequin was cut from $250 to $62. A glass table with metal legs was slashed from $75 to $18. 

At the Lakewood Promenade store at 1648 University Blvd. W., it was much the same.

Several racks of clothing were on display at the front of the store. In the back, fixtures were for sale.

Merchandise tables contained several pairs of shoes, mens shirts and pants, accessories and home décor.

It also was similar at the South Beach Regional store at 3818 S. Third St. in Jacksonville Beach.

Associates at two stores said they close at 6 p.m. Sunday.

At Lakewood Promenade, an associate said the location would close permanently Sunday unless everything was sold before then.

 In that case, the store would close when the last item is sold.

An associate in Jacksonville Beach said the store would close Monday.

Like at some other retailers, sales declined for years at the struggling Stein Mart. It reported a net loss of $10.5 million for fiscal 2019.

Then the coronavirus pandemic forced Stein Mart to close all of its stores in March.

It began reopening stores April 23 and had all stores back open by June 15. 

Stein Mart Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Aug. 12 in  U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Florida Jacksonville Division.

It began going-out-of-business sales at its 281 store in 30 states. 

The grandfather of Chairman Jay Stein founded the company more than a century ago in Mississippi.

It was a one-store operation until Stein took over executive leadership in 1977 and began expanding the company into a national chain.

He moved the headquarters to Jacksonville in 1984, a year after the first Stein Mart store in Jacksonville opened.

Contributing writer Mark Basch contributed to this report.

 

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