Howard’s Appliance, an appliance retail chain in Southern California that started 79 years ago during the baby boomer era, suddenly closed all its stores, shut down its website, and laid off all its employees on December 6, 2025.
The store closures took place five days before Howard’s Appliance Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on December 10, 2025, listing $17.2 million in liabilities and up to $10 million in assets, The Orange County Register reported. Those liabilities include $273,500 in unpaid California taxes, per The Orange County Register. Howard’s Appliances also racked up more than $6.74 million in liens, mainly from financial service companies and appliance vendors such as Northpoint Commercial Finance ($3.75 million), Haier US Appliance ($1.42 million), and Whirlpool Corporation ($1.17 million), according to a declaration filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court’s Central District of California Los Angeles Division.
David Goodrich, a bankruptcy attorney representing Howard’s Appliances, told the San Gabriel Valley Tribune that plummeting consumer spending and President Donald Trump’s tariffs’ impact on appliances contributed to the decision to shut down its stores and lay off all its employees, adding: “This was not a decision made lightly, but one that became necessary given the current economic landscape.”
Howard’s Appliance won’t be coming back from bankruptcy
Chapter 11 filings are often used as a means to reorganize debt and finances in a way that could set the stage for a company to come back from bankruptcy. Unfortunately, there won’t be a Big Lots-type comeback-after-bankruptcy ending for Howard’s Appliances. David Steinhafel, the manager of a limited liability company that is Howard’s Appliances sole shareholder, explained in a court filing that the intent of the Chapter 11 was to “liquidate all assets, pay creditors from the liquidation of its assets, and dissolve a business that has been a staple in Southern California for nearly eight decades.”…