Sad news for discount shoppers in Mississippi. Hattiesburg-based retailer Dirt Cheap will be shutting the doors to all of its locations.
Channel Control Merchants, the parent company of Dirt Cheap and two other businesses, filed for bankruptcy in Delaware last week and plans to close each of its 68 outlets housed across eight states.
No specific closing dates have been announced, but liquidation sales have already begun at all Dirt Cheap locations to clear out inventory.
Dirt Cheap, which first set up shop in the Pine Belt around 30 years ago, brands itself as an “extreme value retailer” giving major brand customer returns and excess inventory a second chance. The company is known for reselling merchandise from other retailers from overstock, liquidations, and even bankruptcies.
A wholesale division was created by Dirt Cheap to sell excess inventory to foreign countries. Items have been shipped to nations within Africa, Latin America, Eastern Europe, and the Caribbean Islands, per the business’s website.
Financial struggles prompted the decision to shutter the discount retailer’s operations. Officials with Dirt Cheap faulted Target for monetary woes, claiming that the retail giant had given B-Stock Solutions, a Dirt Cheap competitor, better prices for higher quality merchandise on the secondary market, a report from the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal notes.
In contrast, Target, Dirt Cheap’s foundational supplier, allegedly offered the discount retailer lower quality goods at a higher price.
Filings show that Dirt Cheap owes Target’s Salvage Department store nearly $16 million. Amazon is also owed roughly $5.5 million by the retailer.