Shopko Undergoes Financial Restructuring

On Jan. 16, Shopko announced they have filed voluntary petitions for a court-supervised financial restructuring under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code. As a result, the Plentywood store will be closing March 3, and the Wolf Point store will be closing April 8.

As of press time, the Glasgow Shopko was still open with no information available on if the location will stay open in the future. The Courier did reach out to the store to inquire about the future status of the Glasgow location, however they were unable to provide comment.

In a release provided by the company, Shopko is seeking to facilitate the restructuring as a result of excess debt and ongoing competitive pressures. The release also states they have obtained up to $480M debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing from certain lenders to help fund and protect its operations during the Chapter 11 process.

Besides the two locations in Montana, an additional 36 stores throughout the country will be closed and over 20 optical centers will be relocated to freestanding locations. An auction process will also be conducted for its pharmacy business. While the process gets underway, all currently open optical centers and pharmacies will remain open and provide services. The pharmacy in the Glasgow location closed on June 6, and all records were transferred to 5th Avenue Pharmacy and Gift, 621 3rd St S.

Chief Executive Officer Russ Steinhorst stated, “In a challenging retail environment, we have had to make some very tough choices, but we are confident that by operating a smaller and more focused store footprint, we will be able to build a stronger Shopko that will better serve our customers, vendors, employees and other stakeholders through this process."