Foothill Ranch-based Wet Seal Inc. said Wednesday it lost out in bidding for G+G Retail Inc., a bankrupt clothing chain it had sought to buy for $15.2 million.
BCBG Max Azria Group Inc. won the bankruptcy bidding for G+G.
Los Angeles-based BCBG also offered $15.2 million in cash for G+G as well as $22 million for the company’s unsecured creditors in the next five years.
BCBG also offered a plan to add new clothes to stores and to rehire more than half of G+G’s laid off workers.
New York-based G+G, a girls’ teen and pre-teen clothing retailer, had about 566 stores prior to its recent bankruptcy filing.
Wet Seal runs about 400 stores. About 75% of its stores are under the Wet Seal name with the rest operating as Arden B.
The retailer has been in a turnaround mode during the past year, closing more than 100 unprofitable Wet Seal stores. The company’s same-store sales have been on the upswing since the cost-cutting.
