Badcock furniture stores in Athens, across Georgia are closing

Badcock Home Furniture & More, which has two stores in Athens and several in northeast Georgia, will be closing, according to employees at multiple stores.

“It’s hard to say, but the Badcock name will be pretty much gone,” Tim Mullen, manager of the store in Toccoa, said Friday to the Athens Banner-Herald.

Conn's Home Plus, which owns Badcock and Conn stores, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, according to a report in USA Today.

Store employees in Athens were notified Thursday by e-mail that the stores would close, according to employees. Badcock stores will remain open until about Oct. 31 for liquidation sales, Badcock announced on its website.

Athens stores are located on Atlanta Highway and Lexington Road. Managers for both locations were unavailable for comment Friday.

News about the closing began spreading Thursday after public announcements of the closings made news.

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Mullen said he learned about the closings through a zoom call from company officials. Some stores were notified through an e-mail.

“It was a shocker,” Mullen said. “But they are doing what they’ve got to do. The furniture industry isn’t making a dollar like it used too, and unfortunately, the company that bought Badcock … they filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy.”

The store in Toccoa has been in operation for at least 50 years, Mullen said.

“It’s a whole new generation,” he said. “The younger generation would rather sit at home and order online versus going shopping like we always used to do.”

Mullen said stores will go through a 60 to 90 liquidation sale.

This article originally appeared on Athens Banner-Herald: Badcock furniture stores in Athens, across Georgia are closing