Brooks Brothers will be sold to SPARC Group, the tie-up between licensing company Authentic Brands Group and mall operator Simon Property Group.
At the same time, employees, vendors and landlords — though they did not object to the sale itself — raised concerns that the deal could potentially still leave them in limbo for months. At the time of its bankruptcy, Brooks Brothers said in court filings that it had furloughed some 2,900 employees as a result of the pandemic.
“As I said, it’s unfortunate that as of now, the buyer, described as a going concern buyer, has yet to commit to rehire a single Brooks Brothers employee,” he said. “Going concern sales may be about rejection or assumption of contractual obligations. But they should not be about the rejection of talented, loyal, experienced human beings.”
Kelley Cornish, partner at Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP, who represents SPARC Group, said at the hearing the company would be deciding over “the coming months” which 125 stores it would be keeping open.