Gordmans will close five stores in Minnesota

Gordmans, the Omaha-based department store, announced Monday that it will close stores in Burnsville, Roseville, Edina, Coon Rapids and Mankato. Stores in Appleton and Grand Chute, Wis., also are slated to close.

The store in Woodbury will remain open.

The discount retailer filed for bankruptcy last month with debt of $131 million and losses in five of the past six quarters. Forty-eight Midwestern stores are listed as closing.

Gordmans opened its first Minnesota store in Mankato in 2005. Burnsville, Woodbury and Roseville opened in 2011 and 2012, Southdale in 2015 and Coon Rapids last year.

Gordmans operates nearly 100 stores in 22 states, employing nearly 5,100 people. Houston-based Stage Stores recently won a bid of $76 million to purchase 50 stores that will remain open. The liquidation of the 48 stores that are closing is expected to start soon, butdates were not yet available.

Gordmans' decision is part of a broader retail purge. Major department stores will close hundreds of outlets, including J.C. Penney, Macy's, Sears, Kmart and HHGregg.