Clothing retailer Anchor Blue Inc. seeks liquidation

Anchor Blue Inc., a 117-store youth-oriented clothing retailer, returned to bankruptcy court, this time to liquidate.

Anchor Blue, controlled by an affiliate of Sun Capital Partners Inc. as it was before its prior trip through bankruptcy court, already has started going-out-of-business sales at all stores in nine Western and Southwestern states.

Anchor Blue operates at Meadows and Boulevard malls in Las Vegas and at the Galleria at Sunset mall in Henderson.

The Chapter 11 petition says the company has assets of $24.7 million with debt of $38.5 million.

Last year's revenue of $112.6 million resulted in a pretax loss of $23.9 million.

After being sold in the prior Chapter 11 case in August 2009, Anchor Blue continued incurring losses because of the "ongoing downturn in the national economy," a court filing said. In a statement, Anchor Blue said its problems were the result of competition and "unusually disruptive weather conditions in Southern California."

Anchor Blue, which began as Miller's Outpost, once had 251 stores.