Retailer Eddie Bauer cancels auction for 174 stores

By Dietrich Knauth

NEW YORK, March 4 (Reuters) - Outdoor apparel retailer Eddie Bauer LLC on Wednesday canceled a bankruptcy auction for its 174 brick-and-mortar stores, saying it had not received any offers for the retail business by Tuesday's bid deadline.

Eddie Bauer had already begun store-closing sales when it filed for bankruptcy in New Jersey last month, but it entered Chapter 11 with hopes of finding a buyer willing to acquire most or all of its retail stores. A bankruptcy auction had been scheduled for March 6.

Eddie Bauer said in a Wednesday court filing that it remains open to any offer to purchase some or all of its retail assets, despite the cancellation of the auction. The company will continue store-closing sales at all of its brick-and-mortar locations in the meantime.

Eddie Bauer has hired RCS Real Estate Advisors to market its 174 Eddie Bauer store leases across 40 U.S. states and six Canadian provinces.

Eddie Bauer LLC filed for bankruptcy protection on February 9 with about $1.7 billion in debt. The bankruptcy includes only assets related to Eddie Bauer-branded retail stores, and it will not impact Eddie Bauer’s online sales, apparel manufacturing or wholesale sales businesses, which are owned and operated separately from the Eddie Bauer-branded retail stores.

Founded in Seattle, the company has sold outdoor sportswear for 106 years. It patented the first quilted down jacket, known as the "Skyliner” in 1940. But it said it has recently struggled with declining sales, supply-chain challenges, inflation and business uncertainty due to unpredictable U.S. tariffs.

Eddie Bauer previously went bankrupt in 2009.