Discount retailer files bankruptcy, closing stores in Alabama, 7 other states

Mississippi-based discount retailer Dirt Cheap has filed for bankruptcy and will close all its stores.

Channel Control Merchants, the parent company of Dirt Cheap, Treasure Hunt and Dirt Cheap Building Supplies, filed for bankruptcy in Delaware on Monday, the Sun Herald reported. It will close all of its 68 stores across eight states, including Alabama.

According to Dirt Cheap’s website, the chain has stores in Anniston, Atmore, Birmingham, Demopolis, Dothan, Jackson, Mobile, Thomasville and Tuscaloosa. Earlier this year, Dirt Cheap stores in Auburn, Brewton, Madison, Ozark and Phenix City shut down.

Liquidation sales are currently underway at all locations.

Billing itself as an “extreme value retailer,” Dirt Cheap specializes in customer returns, liquidations, closeouts, bankruptcies and liquidations. The chain opened its first stores in Hattiesburg, Mississippi more than 30 years ago and, at one point, was the largest buyer of insurance claims in the U.S., according to its website. It also operated a wholesale division that sold excess inventory to foreign countries.

In 2022, the company said it saved 60 million items from landfills through store sales.