Dive Brief:
- Gordon Companies Inc. — owner of seasonal holiday decor brands Christmas Central, Christmas.com and Northlight — filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Monday, per a voluntary petition filed in the Western District of New York courts.
- The company’s estimated assets are valued between $10 million and $50 million and its estimated liabilities are within a similar range.
- Gordon has between 200 and 999 estimated creditors, with FedEx and UPS among Gordon’s list of 20 creditors with the largest unsecured claims.
Dive Insight:
The peak holiday season is off to a tough start for a longstanding seller of Christmas trees, lights, Halloween decor and more.
Gordon was founded in 1977 and has remained a family-operated business ever since, with David Gordon serving as the president and CEO. The retail company has about 350 associates and over 400,000 square feet of warehouse and distribution space, per its website.
The company’s website lists Target, Kohl’s, Home Depot, Walmart, Amazon, Lowe’s and Michaels as retail partners.
At least some of the seasonal retailer's issues in recent years were related to a now-abandoned inventory and order management system.
Earlier this month, Gordon filed an amended complaint in the same court district against Vision33, a SAP reseller and implementation partner, alleging it paid the vendor more than $2 million for an ordering and warehouse operations system that “never performed the function for which it was bought.” Vision33 did not immediately respond to Retail Dive’s request for comment on the claims.
That complaint outlines several years of Gordon struggling to keep up with its holiday peak season orders due to its new system from Vision33 failing to keep up with volume. The companies began working together in 2017 and Gordon abandoned the Vision33 system in 2021.
“Because Gordon could not fulfill orders at the rate its sales channels required, Gordon was forced to suspend selling on certain marketplace channels, and at least one major retail partner, Target, imposed a one-week shipping delay on Gordon’s listings,” Gordon said in its amended complaint.
Correction: An earlier version of this article misstated the company name. It is Gordan Companies Inc.
