by Staff Report

Heartland Publications

All Goody’s stores will be closing, including the ones in Mount Airy, Elkin and Galax, Va., according to the company.

Goody’s Family Clothing Inc. is becoming a major casualty of the weakening economy with plans by the retail chain to begin liquidating its stores today, including two in Surry County.

“All of them are closing,” an assistant manager of Goody’s in Mount Airy said Thursday. That store is located in Forrest Oaks Shopping Center on Rockford Street.

Meanwhile, a similar report came Thursday from the other Goody’s location in Surry at 1617 N. Bridge St. in Elkin.

“I think we’re all in the same boat,” an employee there said.

No one at either location knew when the stores will actually close. “They haven’t told us a whole lot,” the Elkin spokesperson said of officials of the chain headquartered in Knoxville, Tenn.

Further questions were referred to the company’s public relations office, which did not respond to a telephone message Thursday for further details.

It was not known Thursday how many employees will be displaced by the closings of the local businesses, which normally are open seven days a week.

Goody’s also operates a store in Galax, Va. In all, the 59-year-old chain, which employs 9,800 people, has 287 stores in 20 Southern and Midwestern states.

The stores’ liquidation will be conducted through a joint venture between Gordon Brothers Retail Partners and Hilco Merchant Resources, according to the Associated Press. It is to be completed by the end of March.

There is some hope that acquisition of higher-performing stores in the chain by a last-minute buyer or investor could avert some of the job losses, based on the wire-service report. Goody’s officials are said to be contacting competitors about the possible purchase of some of its outlets.

The announcement that Goody’s would be liquidating stores came less than four months after the privately held retail chain emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. It had filed for the protection last June, with the accompanying reorganization plan resulting in the closing of dozens of low-performing stores.

Goody’s also shut down a distribution center in Arkansas and a corporate office in New York as part of its reorganization, in addition to eliminating its e-commerce business and slashing corporate and operating expenses.

It was thought that those changes would allow the chain to deal with pressures from the tightened credit market and improve its merchandise flow so it could maintain viability.

However, a disappointing Christmas shopping season for retailers in general — resulting from consumers tightening their belts due to the worsening economy — apparently proved inadequate for Goody’s.

The dismal sales were especially rough for Goody’s, which has been described as “undercapitalized,” subjecting it to increased pressures from lenders and vendors.