What Happened to The Children’s Place? How a 57-Year-Old Mall Staple Ended Up in Bankruptcy
For decades, The Children’s Place was where American parents went for back-to-school jeans and holiday pajamas. On 8 November 2026 the 57-year-old chain filed for Chapter 11 and put substantially all of its business up for sale. Here is how it got there, and what is actually known about what happens next.
The short answer
The Children’s Place filed for Chapter 11 on 8 November 2026 and is selling substantially all of its assets through a court process, with bids due 9 December. Years of falling sales, heavy debt and repeated rescue loans from majority owner Mithaq Capital left it short of cash. Stores and websites remain open for now.
The Children’s Place bankruptcy: the key numbers
Item | Figure | Source |
Chapter 11 filing | 8 Nov 2026, District of New Jersey | Company |
North American stores | 514, plus two websites | 10-Q; CNBC |
Assets vs debts in filing | ~$742M vs ~$881M | CNBC |
Bid deadline | 9 Dec 2026 | Company |
Q2 2026 net sales (to 1 Aug) | $241.8M, −18.9% | 10-Q |
Q2 2026 comparable sales | −16.7% | Q2 release |
Q2 2026 net loss | $31.0M (vs $5.4M) | 10-Q |
Founded | 1969, Hartford, Connecticut | Company |
Filing details are from the company’s announcement page and its Business Wire release. Quarterly figures are from its Form 10-Q. The asset and debt totals are as reported by CNBC.
How did The Children’s Place start?
The company was founded in Hartford, Connecticut, in 1969 by David Pulver and Clinton Clark, according to its corporate history. It became a fixture of American shopping malls, selling its own-brand children’s clothing at value prices. That formula, cheap basics for kids who grow out of them fast, is still the core of the business today.
What happened with the Disney Stores?
In November 2004 The Children’s Place took over 313 Disney Stores in the United States and Canada, according to its SEC filings. The bet did not last. On 20 March 2008 it announced it would exit the Disney Store business. The subsidiary running the stores, Hoop, filed for Chapter 11 on 26 March 2008, and Disney affiliates bought the business back for about $64 million on 30 April 2008. The company booked around $50 million of costs related to the exit.
Some summaries describe it as running 335 Disney Stores from 2004 to 2007. The company’s own filings give 313 stores at acquisition and an exit in 2008, so we use those figures.
Why did it buy Gymboree?
In 2019 The Children’s Place bought the rights to the Gymboree brand, a well-known name in children’s clothing, and launched Gymboree products in select stores and online in early 2020, according to its website. It bought the brand rights, not a chain of stores, and today sells Gymboree through its own stores and gymboree.com.
Who is Mithaq, and how much has it lent?
In early 2024 the retailer found a new controlling shareholder. Mithaq Capital SPC, a Cayman Islands company, disclosed a majority stake in February 2024. A company 8-K later that month put the holding at about 56%. On 29 February 2024 Mithaq agreed to an interest-free, unsecured, subordinated loan, drawn in two parts totalling $78.6 million, according to an 8-K filing. In April 2024 it added a $90 million unsecured term loan at SOFR plus 4%.
Some of that money came back: the company says in its 10-Q that $60.2 million of the first Mithaq loan was repaid when it completed a rights offering in February 2025. But the support kept coming. Under a $40 million facility at SOFR plus 9%, the company drew $15 million on 1 July 2026 and another $25 million on 24 September 2026, according to its 8-K filings.
Page 21 analysis: Mithaq’s lending, from the filings
Date | Facility | Amount | Terms |
Feb–Mar 2024 | First and second Mithaq term loans | $78.6M total ($30M + $48.6M) | Interest-free, unsecured, subordinated |
Apr 2024 | Mithaq unsecured term loan | $90M | SOFR + 4% |
Feb 2025 | Repayment via rights offering | −$60.2M of the first loan | 10-Q |
1 Jul 2026 | New $40M Mithaq facility | $15M drawn | SOFR + 9%, matures 2031 |
24 Sep 2026 | Same facility | $25M drawn | SOFR + 9% |
This is our summary of the company’s 8-K and 10-Q disclosures. Quartz, citing Bloomberg, described Mithaq Capital as a Saudi family office that has supported the retailer for years with Shariah-compliant loans.
How bad had sales become?
By the 13 weeks to 1 August 2026, net sales had fallen 18.9% to $241.8 million from $298.0 million a year earlier, and comparable retail sales were down 16.7%. Gross profit fell to $83.3 million from $101.3 million. Interest costs were rising too: other interest expense was $16.2 million in the quarter against $6.2 million a year before. The result was a net loss of $31.0 million, or $1.39 a share, against $5.4 million a year earlier.
What happens in the Chapter 11 sale?
The company filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey and plans a sale of substantially all its assets under Section 363 of the Bankruptcy Code. Bids are due on 9 December, and it aims to complete a deal by the end of December 2026. It says it expects debtor-in-possession financing to keep operating during the process.
The company says all stores and e-commerce sites remain open. It has also said certain store closures will be necessary, and that it has a consulting agreement with a joint venture of GA Group, Tiger Group and SB360 for inventory sales. If no going-concern buyer emerges, it has a fallback agreement with GA Group, which the company says is “not the path the Company is striving toward.” In other words, the stated aim is a buyer for the business, but the outcome is not yet decided.
There have been leadership changes too. CNBC reported that the interim CEO and the chief strategy officer stepped down, with CFO John Szczepanski serving as acting president. Rudy Morando, the co-chief restructuring officer, said the company is “committed to conducting an efficient and transparent sale process.”
Why did the stock more than double on 12 November?
This is a developing story. The Children’s Place shares closed at $0.444 on 12 November 2026, up about 122% from a $0.20 close the day before, according to Yahoo Finance daily data. We have not found a company announcement explaining the move, and we are not suggesting a reason for it. In a Chapter 11 case, shareholders rank behind creditors, so moves like this are hard to read and can reverse quickly.
The Children’s Place FAQs
Is The Children’s Place going out of business?
Not as of 13 November 2026. The company filed for Chapter 11 on 8 November 2026 to run a court-supervised sale of substantially all of its assets, with bids due 9 December and a deal targeted by the end of December. It says it is aiming for a going-concern sale. It also has a fallback agreement with GA Group for store sales if no going-concern buyer emerges, which it says is not the path it is striving toward.
Are Children’s Place stores closing?
The company says all stores and its e-commerce sites remain open during the sale process, though it has said certain store closures will be necessary. It has not published a full closing list on the pages we reviewed. At filing it had 514 stores in North America.
Who owns The Children’s Place?
Mithaq Capital SPC, a Cayman Islands investment company, is its controlling stockholder. Mithaq disclosed a majority stake in February 2024 and has since lent the company money several times. The shares also trade publicly under the ticker PLCE.
Why did The Children’s Place stock jump?
The shares closed at $0.444 on 12 November 2026, up about 122% from $0.20 the day before, according to Yahoo Finance daily data. We have not found a company announcement explaining the move, and we are not suggesting a reason. Stock moves in companies in Chapter 11 can be extreme.
Does The Children’s Place still own Gymboree?
Yes. It bought the rights to the Gymboree brand in 2019 and relaunched Gymboree products in early 2020, according to its corporate website. The current sale process covers substantially all of the company’s assets.
Sources
Related on Page 21
This is a developing story, updated as of 13 November 2026 (IST). It is for general information only and is not investment advice. Figures are from company announcements, SEC filings and the reports linked above.
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