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First Security Fights ‘Warehouse Sale’ of Lauren JamesLock Icon

2 min read

First Security Bank wants to extinguish what it calls the fire sale at the women’s clothing company Lauren James.

The Searcy bank, which has sued Lauren James Enterprises Inc. of Fayetteville over a defaulted $338,720 loan (See First Security Bank Sues Lauren James for Allegedly Defaulting on Loan), has asked a Washington County Circuit judge to prevent Lauren James from holding its warehouse sale scheduled for Saturday and Sunday. The bank said that since the company defaulted on the loan, First Security is “entitled to immediate possession” of Lauren James’ inventory.

But Lauren James won’t hand its goods over, the bank said.

Instead, Lauren James filed on June 11 an objection to surrendering its items.

After that filing, the bank got wind of Lauren James’ warehouse sale, where customers could buy a bag “for a small fee” and take and keep all the items that can fit in the bag, the filing said.

The bank said Lauren James advertised the event as its “Final Warehouse Sale Ever!”

Lauren James and its married co-owners, Lauren Wilkins and Lance Stokes, “are attempting to liquidate the inventory at fire sale prices in order to ensure that First Security may not recover the inventory,” the bank said.

Lance Stokes told Whispers Thursday that there was nothing unusual about the warehouse sale. It’s something the company has held every year, he said.

And the allegations in the bank’s filing are “not true,” he said.

He also said the business is doing fine financially. Stokes also said the company was trying to negotiate an extension for the First Security loan, which was taken out in 2017 for $500,000.

It has been renewed several times since then.

“We’re attempting to resolve that with them,” Stokes said.

First Security wants a judge to prevent Lauren James from selling any more inventory “whether in the ordinary course of business or not,” the filing said.

The bank’s other requests include ordering Lauren James to return the inventory it moved from Fayetteville to Dotcom Distribution of Edison, New Jersey, which the bank alleged was a violation of the terms of the loan.

As of Thursday afternoon, a hearing on the bank’s motion hadn’t been set.

“Every business, as you know, goes through ups and downs,” Stokes said. “We look forward to the future, and what we’re doing here at Lauren James.

“Every move that we’ve made is for the success of the business,” he said.

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