Dive Brief:

• The volatility of the current tariff environment sped up “the need for a comprehensive solution” for struggling retailer At Home, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Monday, CFO Jeremy Aguilar said in a first day declaration filing.
• Prior to its decision to file for bankruptcy, the Dallas, Texas-based home goods provider was already facing numerous challenges, including increasingly strained liquidity stemming from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, ongoing headwinds in the overall retail industry, upcoming debt maturities and a “going concern” audit opinion, Aguilar said in the Monday filing. The retailer’s “liquidity constraints were exacerbated and accelerated by the introduction of new tariff policies in 2025,” he said.
• Citing the impact of the Trump administration’s on-again off-again tariff policies, the “uncertainty of ongoing U.S. trade negotiations intensified the financial pressure on the company,” Aguilar said. The company, which “relies heavily on foreign suppliers, was — and remains — significantly impacted by these tariff policies,” he wrote.

Dive Insight:

In its fiscal 2025, approximately 90% of the retailer’s products were sourced from overseas, with 55% of its total sourcing purchased directly from foreign product partners in countries including China, Vietnam, and India, Aguilar said. While the company had experience navigating tariff changes over the past few years, “the current tariff policy dynamic introduced a new level of uncertainty and volatility during the early stages of the new senior management team’s implementation of its refined business strategy,” Aguilar wrote. 

Aguilar took the CFO seat in December 2024 after newly-appointed CEO Brad Weston — an alum of Petco and Party City, who assumed the top executive role that June — moved to recruit new senior leaders and “recalibrate At Home’s strategy and operational focus,” he said in the Monday filing.

Prior to At Home, Aguilar most recently served as finance chief for residential solar company Trinity Solar, and has also served as EVP and CFO for Bob’s Discount Furniture, according to his LinkedIn profile. His past experience also includes serving as finance chief for Sports Authority for a two-year period ended July 2016, coming after the sports retailer filed for bankruptcy in March of that year, CFO Dive sister publication Retail Dive reported at the time.

“With new management in place, the Company recognized its acute need to improve liquidity” and to renegotiate a prepetition asset-based lending credit agreement prior to its maturity date of July 23, 2026, Aguilar said of the appointments.   

However, “in the midst of the Company’s attempts to address its liquidity situation and during the early stages of the management team’s transformation strategy, tariffs began to adversely impact the retail industry,” Aguilar wrote.

News of the bankruptcy comes amid a brief lull in the tariff tug-of-war between the Trump administration and many of its trading partners, a pause which bolstered consumer sentiment for the first time in six months at the top of this month, CFO Dive previously reported. However, the pause follows a series of rapid changes to tariff policy following the “Liberation Day” strategy put in place by the Trump administration on April 2 — which led tariffs on imports from China to reach 145% in May.

The dizzying swing of tariff highs-and-lows — the Trump administration has since walked back the 145% tariffs on China — appears to have been a deciding factor in the decision for At Home to file for bankruptcy, coming after the reailer has struggled since the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic to address tightening liquidity and its looming debt maturity. Though the company raised $200 million in fresh capital in May 2023, “unprecedented global impacts continued to frustrate the Company’s existing business plan,” Aguilar wrote Monday. 

The retailer is one of several that have moved to initiate bankruptcy proceedings in recent years among ongoing headwinds in the overall industry. Bed Bath & Beyond, along with arts and crafts retailer Joann and the Container Store filed for bankruptcy protection in recent years. The Container Store exited bankruptcy in January, having excised almost $88 million in debt during the restructuring, CFO Dive sister publication Retail Dive previously reported.

With its Chapter 11 petition, At Home will also look to pare down its debt; the home goods company has entered into a restructuring support agreement with lenders holding 95% of its debt, according to a Monday press release. The RSA agreement will look to eliminate “substantially all” of the company’s nearly $2 billion in total debt obligations and includes a $200 million capital infusion with the aim of supporting At Home through its restructuring, according to the release.

At Home declined to comment beyond its filings and press release.