Olympia Sports has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, seeking an orderly wind-down of its operations. The retailer plans to close its 35 remaining brick-and-mortar stores by Sept. 30, 2022, according to a filing with the U.S. bankruptcy court in Delaware.
In 2019, RSG Acquisitions bought Olympia’s intellectual property, online stores and 75 of its then 152 stores. At that time Olympia closed the approximately 75 stores that were not part of the acquisition. Currently, the retailer sells exclusively through its remaining physical stores following a late entry into the ecommerce space that began in 2018 and ended in April 2022. In that same month, Olympia decided to liquidate 22 of its stores, and in July 2022 the company made the decision to close the rest of its locations.
At its peak in 2012, the retailer operated 230 stores across the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions. The stores, many of which were located in malls, ranged from 4,000 square feet to 15,000 square feet.
While Olympia’s remaining locations have generated significant gross revenues since 2020, its EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) have remained in negative territory. This year, the retailer generated $28 million in gross revenues through July 31, but its EBITDA was negative$7.8 million.
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According to the bankruptcy court filing, Olympia has 570 creditors that are owed approximately $28.7 million. The 30 largest creditors are owed approximately $16.7 million.
