Information for Creditors of Elite Home Products, Inc.
Case Number 22-12353 in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey
ELITE HOME PRODUCTS HAS A SUCCESSFUL PAST
Founded in New Jersey in 1998, Elite Home Products, Inc. has been profitable for “virtually every year” of its existence, according to company President Scott Perretz in papers filed in the bankruptcy case. In fact, before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, the company was regularly doing between $30 and $45 million in annual sales. In 2020, the company had over $36 million in sales and in 2021, it had over $33 million in sales.
Elite Home Products achieved these sales numbers by supplying finished textile products, including sheet sets, duvet sets, blankets, towels, quilts, and comforter ensembles to major retailers including “Ross Stores, TJ Maxx, Boscov’s, Macy’s, Kohl’s, QVC, HSN, Sam’s Club, Amazon, Walmart, Wayfair, Overstock, Gabriel Brothers, Navy Exchange, and many more.” Elite Home ships products to retailers, provides fulfillment services for their e-commerce sites, and ships direct to consumers on behalf of some retailers.
The company works out of a 100,000 square foot building in Saddle Brook, New Jersey, which is near Newark, NJ, a port city where most of Elite Home’s products arrive from overseas.
THE COMPANY IS SEEKING BUYERS
The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States and across the world has damaged the Debtor’s business. If the pandemic had not hit, Elite Home Products would likely have continued to run a profitable business for years. Indeed, the company tried to weather the storm of rising material costs, rising shipping and freight costs, and slowing supply chains on the hope that the market conditions would normalize.
Two years into the pandemic, it has become clear that the rising prices and supply chain issues will not resolve any time soon. Unfortunately, this led Elite Home to make the tough decision to file for bankruptcy protection. In the bankruptcy case, Elite Home will pursue two options simultaneously: first, the company will work to reduce costs, collect outstanding accounts, and liquidate its inventory in order to provide a return to creditors; second, the company will court potential buyers who may want to purchase Elite Home Products as a going concern.
This dual track, the company believes, will allow its assets to be maximized and liabilities to be minimized. Elite Home hopes to provide the highest return possible to its 40 creditors.
HOW WILL CREDITORS FARE?
Elite Home Products reports in its bankruptcy papers that it has approximately $6.3 million in assets as compared to $11.1 million in liabilities. Of its liabilities, the Debtor estimates that $2.6 million are secured debts, while the remaining $8.5 million are unsecured. Clearly, these numbers are not favorable to creditors. However, in a bit of good news for unsecured trade creditors of Elite Home, the company reports that it has no outstanding tax debt. This is good news because tax debts are paid before unsecured creditors in bankruptcy cases.
In order to pursue its bankruptcy case, the Debtor has filed applications to hire Genova Burns LLC as its bankruptcy counsel, Getzler Henrich & Associates, LLC as its financial consultants, SAX LLP as its accountants, and Winne Banta Basralian & Kahn as special counsel to assist with a potential sale of the company.
Unsecured creditors are also entitled to competent representation in Chapter 11 proceedings. If you are a creditor of Elite Home Products, Inc. or just have general questions about the bankruptcy case, please feel free to reach out to PRLT.
PRLT does not represent Elite Home Products, Inc. The content on this page is provided for informational purposes only. Nothing on this page or this website creates an attorney/client relationship between you and PRLT. Nothing on this page is legal advice. If you have any questions about the Elite Home Products bankruptcy case or anything discussed on this page, please contact us.