KB Toys to liquidate

The 86-year-old toy retailer has filed for bankruptcy and plans to close its stores in the next few weeks. The company cited a “sudden drop” in sales in the past two months. From DealBook:

KB Toys’s latest bankruptcy filing is actually its second — something that restructuring pros jokingly call a “Chapter 22.” Its first trip through bankruptcy court, in 2004, was a black eye for Bain Capital, which controlled it at the time. In that reorganization, KB Toys closed hundreds of stores, sold its Web operations and emerged under a plan that gave most of its new equity to Prentice Capital Management, a hedge-fund firm.

Locally, KB stores are in Burbank, Camarillo, City of Commerce, Downey, Glendale, Lakewood, Montebello, Northridge, Ontario, Palmdale, Sherman Oaks, San Pedro, Sunland, Sun Valley, Torrance, West Covina and Westminster. The chain had 10,850 employees as of Dec. 5, about 6,500 of which were seasonal workers. Close-out sales are being planned this month.