LL Flooring, home improvement store formerly known as Lumber Liquidators, is closing in bankruptcy proceedings

National retailer LL Flooring, formerly known as Lumber Liquidators, has announced it is going out of business after 30 years, after attempts to find a buyer failed just weeks after filing for bankruptcy.

The Richmond, Virginia-based company, which until recently had 442 stores nationwide, announced it would permanently close its stores after negotiations with several bidders failed to produce a deal, the company said on its website. Last month, the company had already begun closing 94 stores.

LL Flooring, known for its hard flooring and a serious competitor of Home Depot, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in early August in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware. The company said it had secured $130 million in financing on its own from an existing banking group led by Bank of America.

LL FLOORING CLOSES 94 STORES AS IT FILES BANKRUPTCY

However, LL Flooring is required under the provisions of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code (Chapter 11) to obtain the highest or at least the best offer for the company's business or assets.

In the absence of a buyer, the company concluded that selling individual assets, conducting store clearance sales and winding up the business would provide the greatest value to creditors.

“It is with a heavy heart that we announce that we will begin winding down LL Flooring's operations and closing all of our stores,” CEO Charles Tyson wrote to customers.

“This is not the result any of us had hoped for. Since 1993, LL Flooring has been a pioneer in creating beautiful spaces and supporting customers every step of the way – from finding the right material to arranging a safe, professional installation.”

The hardware company filed for bankruptcy last month but was unable to find a buyer. (Nathan Howard/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)

According to CBS, around 2,000 workers will lose their jobs due to the closures.

Tyson wrote that all remaining stores will begin clearance sales on September 6 and will continue for the next 12 weeks, with the timing of the closures varying from store to store.

Current orders for installations will be executed within 30 days and orders for new installations have been suspended, the company said.

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“We are proud to serve our customers over the years and thank you again for your trust and for turning to us with your flooring needs,” Tyson wrote.

We look forward to making you great offers during the closing process.

Lumber Liquidators Flooring was founded in 1994 by Tom Sullivan, a contractor who started buying surplus lumber from other companies. The company quickly grew into one of the largest hardwood flooring retailers in the country and expanded into Canada in 2010.

The company has been navigating troubled waters since a 2015 report by “60 Minutes” indicated that the then-Lumber Liquidators' laminate flooring product contained high levels of the cancer-causing poison formaldehyde because it had been imported from China. Formaldehyde is found in the glue that manufacturers use to make composite wood products such as fiberboard, which forms the basis of laminate flooring.

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An LL Flooring store in Beltsville, Maryland. The company has announced it is going out of business after 30 years, following unsuccessful attempts to find a buyer just weeks after filing for bankruptcy. (Nathan Howard/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)

The retailer's shares immediately fell 23% to $39.73 following the report's release. Since filing for bankruptcy last month, the company's value has plummeted from 84 cents to 2 cents.

Later in 2015, Lumber Liquidators pleaded guilty in federal court to illegally importing hardwood flooring and was fined $13.15 million the following year.

In 2020, the company was rebranded and renamed LL Flooring.