Lord & Taylor is reportedly preparing to liquidate its stores and could close them permanently

• Lord & Taylor is reportedly preparing to liquidate its stores as soon as they reopen, Reuters reports.
• The nearly 200-year-old department store chain has closed all 38 of its stores due to coronavirus restrictions.
• "The company is working through various options at this time and is declining to comment," a spokesperson for Le Tote, Lord & Taylor's parent company, told Business Insider.
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Lord & Taylor is reportedly preparing to liquidate its stores as soon as they reopen, Reuters reports citing people familiar with the matter.

The company has selected liquidators to operate its going-out-of-business sales and is preparing to permanently close its stores following those sales, according to the report.

The nearly 200-year-old department store chain has closed all 38 of its stores due to coronavirus restrictions.

A spokesperson for Lord & Taylor parent company Le Tote told Business Insider, "The company is working through various options at this time and is declining to comment."

Lord & Taylor did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Additional financing or some other intervention could enable the company to avoid liquidation, Reuters' sources said.

Reuters also reported last month that Lord & Taylor was considering filing for bankruptcy.

Following that report, Lord & Taylor deleted its Instagram and Twitter accounts and stopped sharing updates to its official Facebook page, as Business Insider's Bethany Biron reported.

If you work for Lord & Taylor and have a story to share, contact this reporter at hpeterson@businessinsider.com.