Cache Stores to Start Going-Out-of-Business Sales

For bargain hunters, prom-dress shopping may be starting early this year.

Cache, a women’s dress and formalwear retailer, is about to launch going-out-of-business sales at its more than 150 stores nationwide, the company told a bankruptcy judge this week.

The latest in an increasingly long line of troubled women’s retailers to seek chapter 11 protection, Cache started its run through bankruptcy hoping to find a buyer willing to keep some stores alive. That aspiration ultimately failed, though a 25-hour auction did drive up the price of the company’s remaining assets.

An attorney for Cache told a judge Tuesday that the marathon auction, which lasted all day Monday and through the night, is expected to bring in $18 million for creditors.

That’s good news for Salus Capital Partners, the boutique lender that took over Cache’s bank debt in September. The $16.4 million that Cache still owes Salus will be completely repaid, leaving some money for lower-ranked creditors like vendors and landlords.

Great American Group will run the going-out-of-business sales after beating out other liquidators at the auction. Savvy shoppers may recognize Great American as the same outfit liquidating a third of Frederick’s of Hollywood’s stores.

Founded in Miami in 1976, Cache traditionally focused on selling formal dresses to women in their 20s. An ill-timed expansion between 1999 and 2006 that nearly doubled the chain’s store count, to 306, and put more emphasis on sportswear harmed the brand, the company said in court filings. Cache hasn’t turned a profit since 2011.

Cache’s Twitter account has been aflutter in recent weeks with pictures of new styles hitting stores and red-carpet looks styled by the retailer. In late February, the company posted a Q&A with designers Mark Badgley and James Mischka after the pair designed a dress collection exclusively for Cache.

Fans of the brand should act fast. Going-out-of-business sales likely won’t last long. We’ll update this post when we get more information on when the stores are expected to shut their doors for good.

Write to Sara Randazzo at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter at @sara_randazzo