Retailer to buy Forman Mills, preserving jobs

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Discount retail chain Forman Mills has found a buyer, avoiding bankruptcy and saving 245 Pennsylvania jobs – including 31 at its Whitehall store.

Shoppers World, a discount retailer headquartered in New York City, is purchasing the Pennsauken, New Jersey-based company.

The sale doubles the store count for Shopper’s World.

“We’re thrilled to add Forman Mills to the SW family of businesses, and plan to continue operating all Forman Mills locations,” Shoppers World CEO Sam A. Dushey said in a release. “And we look forward to seeing benefits to both companies from this new acquisition.”

Mike Kvitko, CEO of Forman Mills, added, “We’re pleased to be joining a company with such longevity, strong community roots and financial stability. I’m happy for our team and our vendor partners, and I’m also happy to announce the upcoming openings of our newest Forman Mills stores at Marshfield Plaza in Chicago and at 48th and Market in Philadelphia.”

Last week, Forman Mills filed a Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act notice with the state Department of Labor & Industry about closing down operations in seven Pennsylvania stores and filing for bankruptcy if a buyer wasn’t found.

The other six that had been on the list were one each in Wyncote, Montgomery County, and Glenolden, Delaware County, and four in Philadelphia. Shoppers World also plans to reopen a Philadelphia store that had been closed.

The founder of Shoppers World, Sam Dushey Sr., opened his first store in the 1930s in Baltimore; today, Shoppers World operates 40 department stores across 13 states: New York, New Jersey, Indiana, Maryland, Connecticut, Virginia, Georgia, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Nevada and Texas. Each store carries a full line of casual and dress wear for men, women and children.

Forman Mills operates 43 big box warehouse-style discount stores, serving communities in Philadelphia, New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, Detroit, Chicago, Milwaukee, Ohio and New York.

The business, founded by Rick Forman, opened its first superstore in 1985 in South Philadelphia.

Forman sold the company to private equity investor Goode Partners LLC in 2016 for $250 million.

Paula Wolf is a freelance writer