PROVIDENCE — EbLens, a clothing store that was founded in the streets of New Britain, Connecticut for the “working man” in the late 1940s, will close all its locations by the end of the summer for the “benefit of creditors.”
The streetwear chain has stores across the northeast, including 17 in Connecticut, 10 in Massachusetts, and four in Rhode Island.
EbLens investors recently retained DSI Consulting, a Chicago-based company, to handle the private liquidation of the company’s assets to appease creditors in a process similar to a Chapter 7 bankruptcy.
“We’re just in a process of winding down,” Steven Victor, a senior managing director of DSI, told CT Insider this week. He estimated it will take about two months for the company to close the remaining stores.
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The chain, which employs about 500 people, is the latest retailer to hit the chopping block in recent years.
In 2017, private equity firm J.W. Childs Associates, L.P., which specializes in buyouts and recapitalizations, acquired a majority interest in EbLens from another private equity firm. At the time, it operated 44 stores.
In 2004, the company underwent a transformation when it abandoned the crowded, suburban clothing market that was once dominated by brands like Gap, Abercrombie & Fitch, and Kohl’s department stores. Instead, CEO Richard Seaman, the son of one of EbLen’s original founders, decided to favor a more “urban” product line with a variety of footwear and clothing by brands such as Ed Hardy and Rocawear. Sales increased by 40 percent within four years.
But sales took a turn for the worse in recent years with the rise of online shopping that have dramatically shrunk the footprint of malls. In 2020, big brands like Nike started closing their wholesale accounts, including with EbLens.
EbLens posted bargains on its social media channels this week in order to deplete their inventory. There is no clear timeline as to when specific stores might close.
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Alexa Gagosz can be reached at alexa.gagosz@globe.com. Follow her on Twitter @alexagagosz and on Instagram @AlexaGagosz.