Tariffs and Debt Push 'At Home' Retailer Toward Bankruptcy
At Home, the Plano, Texas-based home décor giant known for its warehouse-style stores and budget-friendly furnishings, is inching closer to the edge of bankruptcy. The signs have been piling up for months, but now, sources say the company is actively preparing to file for Chapter 11.
Financial Trouble Is Knocking: Tariffs & Debt
So, what pushed At Home to the brink of bankruptcy? It’s not just poor sales or a sluggish economy, though those do play a role. The company has been buried under a mountain of debt, reportedly nearing $2 billion.
On top of that, they’ve taken a direct hit from the Trump-era tariffs still in effect. With a large chunk of its products sourced from overseas, especially China, At Home has been shelling out more on goods, thanks to a 10% base import tariff and a staggering 145% tariff on certain Chinese items.
New Faces, Same Problems
In the summer of 2023, At Home rolled out a new game plan. They appointed Jeff Evans, a longtime Walmart exec, to take over as president. A few months later, they handed the CEO keys to Brad Weston, who’d previously helmed Party City. On paper, the hires made sense: both men knew retail and had steered ships through choppy waters before.
But you can’t fix a leaky foundation by switching captains.
Despite the leadership shuffle, the core issues remained untouched. The company kept bleeding cash, and none of the promised turnarounds took hold.
Back in 2021, private equity firm Hellman & Friedman scooped up At Home in a $2.8 billion deal, banking on a pandemic-era home décor boom. But the mood changed fast. Inflation bit into discretionary spending, supply chains got snarled, and the cheap money that fueled retail expansions dried up.
Now, that glossy acquisition looks more like a cautionary tale than a retail triumph. Fresh leadership or not, At Home's problems run deeper than who's sitting in the corner office.
At Home Isn't Alone: Retail Reckoning Across the U.S.
Zoom out a bit. At Home’s looming bankruptcy is a small piece of a wider pattern. The retail sector has been undergoing a slow-motion collapse in recent years. Reputable, well-known brands like JoAnn Fabrics and Rite Aid have either filed for bankruptcy or dramatically redu8ced the number of store fronts.
What’s behind the reckoning? Several overlapping forces:
Persistent inflation
Supply chain volatility
A shift in how Americans shop
Consumers are still spending— but more cautiously, and increasingly online. Meanwhile, interest rates have made borrowing costlier, a fatal mix for businesses already in the red. These large-scale retailers find themselves caught in the midst of a perfect storm that has forced many companies to either pivot fast or fold.
What’s Next for At Home?
If At Home does go through with a Chapter 11 filing, it would be triage over blatant surrender. It could give the company a opportunity to stop the financial bleeding, reduce debt, and renegotiate costly leases. Some stores would almost certainly close. Others might limp along under new terms.
But retail doesn’t hand out second chances easily.
At Home is up against a brutal playing field. It’s not just competing with Wayfair, IKEA, and Target; it’s competing with the convenience of one-click shopping, fast shipping, and dirt-cheap prices from mega-retailers that can afford to take hits At Home simply can’t.
To pull off a comeback, At Home needs a reason for shoppers to walk through its doors instead of just scrolling past its inventory online.
For now, the company's fate hangs in the balance. Employees are left bracing for impact. Shoppers might not notice much (yet). Whether At Home emerges from this as a leaner, stronger retailer or fades into the growing list of pandemic-era flameouts remains to be seen.