Popular Women’s Apparel Chain With NJ, PA Stores Closing

A national Women's retailer announced this week that they intend to close all their stores in a Chapter 11 restructuring plan and want to sell their inventory to a catalog and online retailer.

Soft Surroundings, with local stores in The Promenade at Sagemore in Marlton, NJ, and in Glen Mills, PA, has been in business since 1999, offering casualwear, shoes & bedding for women, plus jewelry & beauty products.

According to the Philadelphia Business Journal, the St. Louis-based company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy this week and plans to sell its assets to catalog and online retailer Coldwater Creek.

The plan also calls for closing the retailer's 44 brick-and-mortar stores in 24 states. Soft Surroundings began store closing sales on Sept. 3, according to the filing.

Soft Surroundings had already scaled back inventory and closed 30 of its physical locations over the last year to “hyper-focus” on key markets and demographics, the company said.

In its bankruptcy filing, Soft Surroundings Holdings listed estimated assets of $50,000 and estimated liabilities of between $50 million and $100 million.

Under the agreement, Coldwater Creek would continue Soft Surroundings' "ongoing direct-to-consumer and e-commerce operations."

Newtimes Group, a Hong Kong-based provider to the apparel industry acquired women's apparel retailer Coldwater Creek in 2020 after the previous owner shut down its operations and 13 stores. Newtimes revived the Coldwater Creek brand in early 2021 as a catalog and online-only business, according to PBJ.

As of May, Soft Surroundings employed about 700 workers. There is no word yet on when the store will close if the bankruptcy plan is approved.

Soft Surroundings shares space in Marlton's Promenade at Sagemore with a collection of upscale shops such as Coach, L.L. Bean, Pandora, Talbots, and White House Black Market.