Columbus-Based Value City Chain To Close

Columbus, Ohio, Oct. 28, 2008--Value City Department Stores, known for generations as a closeout retailer, is going out of business.

The Columbus-based chain has filed for bankruptcy and plans to liquidate the merchandise in its 37 stores, including two in its hometown.

In the filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, the chain blamed an "increasingly competitive" retail environment and challenging economy, combined with the tightening credit market. On a standard form, it listed assets of between $100 million and $500 million, and it said its creditors numbered between 10,000 and 25,000.

Value City, which grew from the original Schottenstein's discount store founded on the South Side in 1917, now has only 37 stores remaining out of the more than 100 it had a year ago.

Although the department-store chain is going out of business, the Value City Furniture Stores chain is not. That is a separate company, with 130 stores in 19 states, that company's Web site say