Business

Retailer Joyce Leslie files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy

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Published Jan. 11, 2016, 10:20 p.m. ET

Joyce Leslie, a 69-year-old women’s clothing retailer with 47 stores in the New York metropolitan area, has filed for Chapter 11 reorganization.

The company lacks a “sophisticated e-commerce platform” to compete in today’s market, it said in court papers.

The family owned business opened in 1947 by Julius Gewirtz and his wife, Hermine.

Their daughters, Joyce Gewirtz Segal and Nancy Shapiro ran the business for the past four decades and were co-presidents for the past 12 years.

Last October, a former Ashley Stewart executive, Celia Clancy, was appointed CEO “in a final effort to internally restructure the business with new merchandising ideas,” according to the filing.

“It’s so hard these days for specialty junior chains to compete with Forever 21 and H &M especially with their advanced retail digital platforms and ecommerce sites.  Most retailers struggled over the holidays with in store sales, but their on line figures were up.  Joyce Leslie has no ecommerce site,” said Jamie Gorman, founder of Only Nine Apparel, a Manhattan-based clothing manufacturer.