Discount electronics retailer Factory Direct will close all 14 of its stores as part of a bankruptcy application, the company announced.

All of the stores are located in Ontario. The closures mark the end of an era for the chain, which has operated for about three decades and ranks among Canada’s largest discount retailers.

RLogistics Limited Partnership, which does business under the Factory Direct brand, has filed a notice of of intention to make a proposal under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act. An Ontario court has permitted the company to begin liquidating its assets, according to the Canadian Press.

According to CP, court documents show that the retailer wants to close the stores because its business is “no longer viable.”

Since the COVID-19 the company has experienced declining sales and increased overhead partly due to the current high inflationary environment, Factory Direct said in a news  release.

At one point, Factory Direct grew to 24 stores and several hundred employees

A.D. Hennick & Associates Inc. and Danbury Global Ltd. have been appointed to conduct a chain-wide liquidation sale of televisions, smartphones, computers, major appliances and other items. Alex Hennick, president of A.D. Hennick, called the closures a “shame” considering the retailer’s previous growth and history.

Photo: Factory Direct