Container Store files against bankruptcy

Don't fancy paying $27 for a plastic tub that looks a bit nicer than the $9 one at Target? Don't want to fork out for an Elfa closet system very similar to but much more expensive than the one at Ikea? You and many others. The Container Store is heading for bankruptcy.

Last month, The Container Store said that it was in advanced discussions with lenders to provide additional capital as it aimed to turn around sagging earnings and sales, according to a regulatory filing. The company has struggled to raise cash, and last month an agreement with the owner of Bed Bath & Beyond, Overstock and Zulily that would have come with a $40 million cash infusion fell apart. The Container Store said in a regulatory filing that it did not believe that it could match the financing requirements of the partnership with Beyond Inc.

Another example of the death of Premium Mediocre, perhaps. I like to walk around the Container Store imagining myself organizing things, but then I'll find myself staring at, say, an insta-brand Moleskine knockoff that it thinks is worth 40% more than a real Moleskine, a notepad that already costs twenty American dollars, and I realize there is nothing there for me. That said, if liquidation sales happen, I will certainly be buying myself one of their famed bondage chairs.