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Wicker Emporium is shutting its doors for good after 47 years of business.

A current employee was recently told by a manager the furniture and home decor retailer will be closing its six stores due to bankruptcy.

“I found out about the closing the day before Thanksgiving weekend,” said the employee, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

Records from the Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy show Wicker Emporium has $5,398,267.96 in total liabilities and $720,000 in total assets.

However, Wicker Emporium’s news didn’t surprise the sales associate.

“I’ve been seeing it happen since I started working here,” said the employee, who’s been with the company for over a year. “They were having different sales every week. The customers were like ‘I’ll just wait for the next sale to buy (something).’”

The sales associate was told business is expected to wrap up in a few months, depending on inventory.

Madan Kapahi opened the first Wicker Emporium in Scotia Square in Halifax in 1972, five years after he moved to Nova Scotia from India. The store sold furniture and home decor items Kapahi brought back from Europe and Asia.

Raj Kapahi, Madan’s son, took over importing duties in 2009 and would eventually become the company’s president, while his father stayed on as chief executive officer.

The family-owned business expanded to have 23 retail locations across Atlantic Canada and Ontario and launched country-wide delivery in 2014.

“Due to a combination of a sluggish economy in many areas where our stores are located (particularly in rural parts of the Atlantic provinces) and changing market forces, profits from sales at stores have been down,” stated Madan in an August affidavit.

“We have continued to face pressure from online retailers that ship direct from suppliers and have no overhead associated with physical stores ... This had a major impact on our bottom line.”

Wicker Emporium’s main shipping and logistics provider began refusing to release shipments of inventory from the Port of Halifax to get payment for shipping, freight and demurrage fees, according to the affidavit.

The retailer filed for creditor protection on April 18. New Minas and Sydney stores were forced to close at the end of May.

“New Minas seemed to be a store that has been dragging,” said Raj in a May interview with Kings County News.

The remaining stores — in Bayers Lake, Dartmouth Crossing, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and two in New Brunswick — will close after all inventory is gone, states the business’s website. A liquidation sale is on at all locations.

As part of bankruptcy protection, the business will not be accepting gift cards. A GoFundMe campaign for Wicker Emporium was launched last week. It had raised $180 before being shut down shortly after.

Wicker Emporium did not respond to several requests for comment.

With files from the SaltWire Network.