Love Culture files for bankruptcy

American women's apparel chain Love Culture Inc. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Wednesday and said

it is up for sale. Love Culture's has appointed PricewaterhouseCoopers LLC and law firm Lowenstein Sandler as advisers.

The company owns 82 stores in the United States and has just said it plans to close money-losing stores, restructure its debt and investigate options "including a possible sale of substantially all of its assets as a going concern".

In a petition filed with the US bankruptcy court in Newark, New Jersey, Love Culture said it has as much as 50 million dollars in both assets and liabilities. Net sales totalled 162.4 million dollars in the year ended Feb. 1, 2014, it said in a court filing.

In a communication explaining its decision, the company said it began experiencing financial difficulties in 2012 during its expansion, and that the cost of upgrading its technology affected cash flow.

On a positive note, the struggling retailer revealed that "several financial and strategic buyers" have expressed interest in the company.