REV acquires IP of bankrupt retailer Stein Mart for $6m

Investment firm Retail Ecommerce Ventures’ (REV) new majority-owned subsidiary Stein Mart Online has won a bankruptcy court auction to acquire department store chain Stein Mart.

As part of the agreement, the subsidiary acquired the intellectual property (IP) of Stein Mart in a deal valued at $6m.

The company is planning to relaunch these assets into an online-only store in early 2021.

Last month, advisory company Hilco Streambank sought offers for the intellectual property (IP) assets including Stein Mart brand, label brands, domain names, social media assets, and customer data.

Retail Ecommerce Ventures CEO Alex Mehr said: “Our growing set of investors sees Stein Mart as another important addition to our increasing stable of venerable brick-and-mortar retail brands that we are bringing back-to-life as online destinations.”

Based in Jacksonville, Florida, Stein Mart filed for bankruptcy in August as part of its restructuring strategy.

The retailer operates 281 stores in 30 states at the time of its bankruptcy filing.

REV executive chairman Tai Lopez said: “The company’s investments in an omnichannel platform for its offering of designer and private label fashion apparel, shoes, home décor and accessories paved the way for Steinmart.com to post double-digit sales growth and increase its average online order to $80.

“We look forward to building upon the solid foundation of existing Steinmart.com customers and introducing new loyalists to the brand by improving the online shopping experience, broadening the merchandise mix and deploying targeted social media marketing campaigns.”

In July, REV acquired the trademark name, intellectual property, data and various online assets of home store Pier 1’s in a deal valued at $31m.

The company officially relaunched Pier 1 Imports online store in October.