Bankrupt Alco will close all its stores

All 198 Alco Stores, including 23 in Kansas, are shutting down.

The beleaguered company that used to have its headquarters in Abilene filed for bankruptcy early last month.

The U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Dallas on Thursday approved an order from the company’s creditors to close all Alco stores.

In Kansas, those include stores in the following communities: Abilene (two), Anthony, Beloit, Ellsworth, Eureka, Fredonia, Garnett, Hillsboro, Hugoton, Kingman, Louisburg, Lyons, Meade, Medicine Lodge, Phillipsburg, Pratt, Russell, Sabetha, Scott City, Smith Center, South Hutchinson and Ulysses.

A complete list of the company’s stores can be found at www.alcostores.com//about_us

The company was founded 113 years ago and had evolved into a discount retailer that served smaller communities. But in recent years, it had faced increasing competition from other discount retailers, such as various “dollar” stores.

According to a news release from the company, the federal bankruptcy court “approved an order yesterday authorizing Tiger Capital Group LLC, SB Capital Group LLC and Great American Group LLC to conduct Going Out Of Business sales in each of Alcos 198 locations in 23 states, including 23 in Kansas.”

The company got its start as a single variety store founded by Alva Lease Duckwall in Abilene in 1901. The headquarters remained in Abilene through decades of growth. Last year, the company moved its headquarters to Coppell, Texas.

Going-out-of-business sales at the stores began Friday, and the company plans to sell more than $260 million of inventory, fixtures and equipment.

“We certainly expect the sale to run through Christmas,” a spokesman for Tiger Capital Group said in an e-mail, “but there’s no way of gauging at this time exactly when it will end.”

Assets at the company’s 352,000-square-foot distribution center in Abilene also will be sold.

This story was originally published November 21, 2014 at 9:13 AM with the headline "Bankrupt Alco will close all its stores."