Badcock's bankrupt Texas parent cutting nearly 70 jobs in Lakeland

Conn’s Inc., the Texas retailer that bought Polk County-based W.S. Badcock a few months before filing for bankruptcy, is laying off 67 employees as it closes a store and warehouse center in Lakeland.

The furniture company says in a letter to state officials that the job cuts are happening because it is shutting the facility as it winds down operations during the bankruptcy process.

The layoffs are expected to begin Oct. 31 and last through the bankruptcy, the company says in the letter sent to the state to meet federal Worker Adjustment Retraining and Notification requirements.

The affected facility opened in 2021 at 8401 State Road 33 N. Among the people losing their jobs are those working in sales, warehouse, delivery and management.

This is the second big round of layoffs locally for Conn’s since it filed for bankruptcy. The first was July when it announced 101 people were losing their jobs because it was closing a Badcock facility at 190 Northwest Phosphate Blvd. in Mulberry.

Houston-based Conn’s became a local fixture of sorts for a few months after buying Badcock in mid-December last year. At the time, Conn’s officals called it “one of the most significant events in Conn’s history” and said it would create “a clear path for Conn’s to deliver strong financial returns over the coming years.”

But that spirit of public optimism lasted just a few months.

Conn’s filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy July 23, announcing it would close all of its stores and sell off its assets.

That included Badcock, the 120-year-old company founded in Mulberry by an English immigrant named Henry Stanhope Badcock.