Altmeyer's chain files for bankruptcy after 81 years; all locations closed

Altmeyer’s, a family-owned retail home goods chain that started in the basement of a New Kensington tavern 81 years ago and grew to multiple locations in the region, has filed for bankruptcy.

The company’s board of directors on Sunday, July 10, authorized its president, Robert Altmeyer, who is the grandson of the chain’s founder, to initiate bankruptcy proceedings in federal court.

Altmeyer did not respond to several messages from the Tribune-Review seeking comment about what prompted the bankruptcy filing.

Attorney Kathryn L. Harrison of Campbell & Levine in Pittsburgh is representing Altmeyer’s in the case. Harrison did not return messages seeking comment.

Calls to six of the company’s stores in the region went unanswered.

The company’s website displays a “maintenance mode” message. It does not permit customers to shop or conduct other business through the portal.

The company, which specializes in home goods such as bedding, bath and kitchenwares and window treatments, operated locations in the Riverview Plaza in New Kensington along with stores in Greensburg, Delmont, Butler, West Mifflin, Uniontown and Johnstown.

The bankruptcy petition, filed Monday, July 11, by Altmeyer in federal court, is for Chapter 7 protection, which allows the company to sell off its nonexempt property and distribute the proceeds to creditors, according to court documents.

The case has been assigned to Judge Carlota M. Bohm.

Company officials estimated in the filing that between $100,000 and $500,000 in debt is owed to creditors and that no money will be left for unsecured creditors after administrative costs for the filing are paid.

There are 125 creditors listed in court documents.

The Altmeyer’s chain was launched in April 1941 when George Altmeyer used $5,000 he scraped together and started selling dry goods from the basement of Corbin’s Bar and Grill on 10th Street in New Kensington.

Altmeyer said his grandfather got the idea for the retail business while working as a stock boy at the now-defunct Hart’s Department Store in New Kensington when he was a teenager and noticed that the store didn’t handle dry goods.