The bad news keeps on coming for Christmas Tree Shops, a beloved discount retailer that filed for bankruptcy in May and is now shuttering all its remaining stores.
Closure of the 80-some locations nationwide began on Friday, said company spokesperson Maya Pogoda. All stores will be closed by Aug. 31.
The Middleborough-based company also recently laid off 227 corporate and warehouse employees in Massachusetts — just under a third of its in-state workforce. Fewer than 10 workers in New Jersey were terminated, too, Pogoda added. (Before the layoffs, Christmas Tree Shops had a total workforce of 3,100 people.)
News of the closures arrives on the heels of a court filing last week in which CTS revealed that a $45 million loan to save the franchise had fallen through. During a court hearing, a lawyer for the retailer said the storefronts have seen sales decline in recent months because it is unable to replenish its store shelves quickly.
Ten stores — including outposts in Falmouth and Sagamore — already closed before June 30. But the company originally intended to keep the lights on at 13 other stores in Massachusetts, two in Rhode Island, and four in New Hampshire. Now that plan has fractured.
The closures will inevitably spark a wave of grief among New England shoppers, who scooped up everything from shampoo and holiday ornaments to rugs and inflatable pools at the stores for more than a half-century.
In May, when the bankruptcy was first reported, Tewksbury resident Loretta Bradley called the news “unbelievable.”
She asked, “Where else can you find stuff like this?”
The original “Christmas Tree Gift Shop” opened in Yarmouth Port on Cape Cod in the 1950s. It was taken over in the ‘70s by Chuck and Doreen Bilezikian, who expanded the store offerings and erected 24 additional locations in New England and New York.
From 2003 to 2020, the franchise was in the hands of Bed Bath and Beyond — another wallet-friendly retailer that met its fate and began liquidating earlier this year. Currently, Christmas Tree Shops is owned by Handil Holdings LLC, which bought the company for an undisclosed sum less than three years ago.
Diti Kohli can be reached at diti.kohli@globe.com. Follow her @ditikohli_.