Nichols plans to auction 16 stores - Prime Retail Space for Sale - S.E. Nichols Inc

Discount Store News, Sept 17, 1990

Nichols Plans to Auction 16 Stores

NEW YORK - S.E. Nichols, another chain operating under the protection of Chapter 11 bankruptcy, has scheduled auctions for the leases of 16 stores in October and November, and listed four other stores for sale.

At its 1986 peak, Nichols was operating 46 units but had dropped to 33 this April when it gave up on full-line discounting and began converting 19 of its stores to a deep drug discount format under the name Pharmhouse. Unable to make two bond interest payments and garner vendor support for its new merchandising tack, Nichols declared Chapter 11 in July.

In an auction set for Oct. 10, Nichols hopes to unload the leases for five units: Amsterdam and Oneonta, N.Y.; Gastonia and Rocky Mount, N.C.; and New Philadelphia, Ohio.

It will auction off 11 other store leases Nov. 28. They are: Salisbury, Md.; Gloversville, N.Y.; Wilson, Goldsboro and Lumberton, all in North Carolina; Astabula and Wooster, Ohio; and Hopewell, Va. It also will offer at auction three Pennsylvania stores; Lebanon, Reading and one of two units in Williamsport.

In addition, it has listed for sale: the second unit in Williamsport, Pa.; Bath, N.Y.; and Fredericksburg and Winchester, Va.

Size of the leases ranges from 79,659 square feet for the North Carolina units to a high of 135,00 square feet in Bath, N.Y. Minimum rent set for the lease auctions ranges from $1.38 per square feet in Astabula, Ohio, to $2.95 in Hopewell, Va.

Keen Realty Consultants, Great Neck, N.Y., will conduct the auctions of the 16 leases. It also is the listing agent for selling the four stores.