In Brief: Bankrupt Retailer Gets $200M BofA Credit

million debtor-in-possession financing from BankAmerica Business Credit. Edison Brothers has about $362 million of bank loans with lenders who had agreed to a standstill agreement in September. At that time the BankAmerica Corp. unit granted a letter of credit that it said would enable the stores to stock their shelves through Christmas. The retailer said Friday that the retail environment remained difficult and the autumn recovery it had expected had not occurred. Edison said it plans to close about 500 unprofitable stores by Jan. 1 and is in talks to sell its mall entertainment chain. The company operates about 2,700 stores, including the mall-based retail chains Oaktree, Jeans West, J. Riggings, Zeidler & Seidler, Repp Ltd., 5-7- 9 Shops, Wild Pair Bakers/Leeds, and Precis.