Dive Brief:
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By the end of Saturday, Showfields will shutter its remaining locations in Brooklyn, New York; Washington, D.C. and Los Angeles, according to copies of a memo sent to suppliers viewed by Retail Dive and shared on social media by Cowbell Plant founder Jeanna Liu, another unsecured creditor. Phones in Brooklyn and Washington were disconnected on Friday. Stores in Miami and Manhattan were permanently closed last year.
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The company told vendors that it had no update on its bankruptcy and advised they may be able to file claims as creditors via court proceedings, for time they paid for but won’t receive. Showfields is unable to pay for return-to-vendor shipping, the company also said in the memo, according to the copies viewed by Retail Dive.
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The retailer, which served as a showcase for DTC brands, filed for bankruptcy in October and has faced qualms from its landlords over its debtor-in-possession financing. Showfields and its CEO and co-founder Tal Nathanel didn’t immediately return requests for comment.
Dive Insight:
When Showfields debuted its concept in New York City in 2019, it positioned itself as a department store of sorts. Its locations featured mostly DTC brands on a rotating basis, allowing visitors to encounter the merchandise in person.
At that point, most DTC brands operated solely or mostly online, largely eschewing wholesale partnerships or brick-and-mortar operations of their own. That has changed drastically in the last couple of years, as more former pure-play e-commerce brands partner with retailers and open stores in a quest for profitability and growth. A few others have been acquired by traditional retail chains or conglomerates.
Neighborhood Goods, another company that similarly works with DTC brands and compares itself to a department store, has also recently shuttered locations, according to the Dallas Morning News.
“While we successfully built custom experiences for over 1,000 brands and welcomed over a million visitors, the business model of the flagship store has proved challenging,” Showfields told its vendors by email.
Caroline Jansen contributed to this story.
