The Children’s Place says it will take its gift cards and reward points only “for a limited time” after its November 8, 2026 bankruptcy filing, subject to court approval. No end date is set, and on August 1, 2026, before the filing, its books showed $19.6 million of those cards and points unused, mostly reward points.
The short answer. The company behind The Children’s Place and Gymboree filed for Chapter 11, the kind of bankruptcy that lets a company keep running while it looks for a buyer. For families, the change comes at the checkout. Gift cards and points work only for a limited time, and anything bought after November 6 is final sale. The points are the bigger part, and the unused balance on the books nearly tripled in the year to August 1, 2026, to $16.8 million.
| Usual rules | Now, subject to court approval | |
|---|---|---|
| Gift cards | Accepted for purchases | Accepted for a limited time, then no cash value |
| Reward points | $5 off per 100 points, up to $50 a day | Usable for a limited time, then the program ends |
| Returns | Within 45 days with a receipt | Only purchases from October 23 to November 6 |
| New purchases | Returnable within 45 days | Final sale on purchases after November 6 |
| Online orders | Ship as usual | Expected to ship without interruption |
On this page
Every company reporting the same week, with its date and time, is in StockTitan’s Earnings Calendar for the Week of November 2, 2026.
Yes, for now. The company still takes Children’s Place and Gymboree gift cards, but only for a limited time, subject to court approval. Once that time ends, a leftover balance cannot be spent or turned into cash.
The exact words on the company’s customer page, read on November 10, 2026, are these: “Subject to Court approval, we will continue to accept The Children’s Place and Gymboree gift cards for a limited time.” The page says the company will share the final date “as soon as it is confirmed.” No end date is set yet.
After that date, the page says, gift cards “will no longer be accepted for purchases, and any remaining balances will not be redeemable for cash.” The company adds, “We encourage customers to use their gift cards while they are valid.”
A judge hears the company’s first requests on Tuesday, November 10, at 1:00 pm ET by video, under an order the court signed on November 9. The company’s press release says those requests include one to “maintain certain customer programs.”
Unused gift cards stood at $2.8 million on the company’s books on August 1, 2026, down from $4.3 million a year earlier, according to its quarterly report.
Points still work for a limited time, and then the program ends, the company says, subject to court approval. Points left after the final date will no longer count.
The customer page says: “Subject to Court approval, customers can continue to redeem My Place Rewards points for a limited time.” After the final date, “the My Place Rewards program will be discontinued, and any remaining points will no longer be valid for redemption.” That date is not set yet either.
The program gives $5 off for every 100 points, up to $50 off a day, and points have no cash value, according to the rewards page. Members earn a point for each dollar they spend, or two with the store credit card.
Reward points make up most of the combined balance. On August 1, 2026, the company valued its unused points at $16.8 million in its quarterly report. That is its own accounting estimate of the discounts members could still claim, and it is not cash a shopper can take out. The figure is six times the gift card balance, and it was $6.0 million a year earlier. The company launched a new rewards program in its 2025 fiscal year that lets members use their coupons over 12 months, the report says.
| Category | Reward points | Gift cards |
|---|---|---|
| Aug 2, 2025 | $6.0M | $4.3M |
| Jan 31, 2026 | $11.7M | $3.2M |
| Aug 1, 2026 | $16.8M | $2.8M |
Only if you bought it between October 23 and November 6, 2026, the company says, subject to court approval. Those items follow the usual return rules. Every purchase after November 6 is final sale.
The customer page says the company will keep taking returns and exchanges “for eligible purchases made between October 23, 2026, and November 6, 2026, in accordance with our existing return policy.” Then it says “all purchases made after November 6, 2026 are final sale and cannot be returned or exchanged.” The home page banner says the same thing in three words: “All Sales Final.”
The usual return policy gives 45 days from the purchase date, with the receipt and the original tags. A return with a gift receipt comes back as store credit. Under that 45-day rule, a November 6 purchase could come back until about December 21, and an October 23 purchase until about December 7. The company has not posted those two dates itself.
The November 6 line matches another date in the case. It is the same day the liquidation sales, the clearance sales run by outside firms, began, according to the sworn court declaration of Lorie Beers, the company’s proposed investment banker at Cascadia Capital. The page names only purchases from October 23 on, so it does not cover items bought earlier, even where 45 days had not yet passed.
Some stores will close, but none has been named yet. Every store and both websites are open for now. The company says it will announce closings as it decides them.
On its customer page, the company says “certain store closures will be necessary during this process.” It adds that it “will communicate confirmed decisions as they are made.” The chain had 514 stores on August 1, 2026, in the US, Puerto Rico and Canada, according to its quarterly report.
Three liquidation firms now help run the clearance sales: Tiger Capital Group, SB360 Capital Partners and GA Retail Solutions. A liquidator is a firm hired to clear out a store’s goods quickly for cash. The company’s 8-K filing, a report public companies file on major events, says those sales include store closing sales. They run from November 6, 2026 to February 28, 2027, unless they end early or get extended.
There is one way out for a store. The Beers declaration says the deal with the liquidators lets the company halt store closures if a firm bid arrives from a buyer ready to keep the business running.
The website advertises 25% to 60% off everything, in stores and online. The trade-off is that every sale is final.
The banner on childrensplace.com calls it a “Total Inventory Blowout” and offers 25-60% off “everything in-store & online,” followed by the words “All Sales Final.” The company’s press release calls these “deep discounts” and says the sales are meant “to enhance liquidity,” which means to raise cash.
The liquidators handle goods at the stores, the warehouses and the website, the 8-K says. So the discounts are a clearance of the company’s clothes and shelves while it looks for a buyer. The deal is simple. A lower price comes with no returns, and the gift cards and points that could pay for it last only a limited time.
One fine print detail predates the filing. Some store credit card offers on the rewards page already say they “cannot be redeemed in a closing store.”
That is not decided. The company wants a buyer who keeps the business running, and none of its nine early offers is ready yet. If no deal comes, the remaining stores wind down.
The company got nine proposals after its banker began calling possible buyers in late September, the Beers declaration says. Six were for deals to keep the business or its brands. Three were offers to buy nearly all its assets and sell them off. The declaration says the company decided, after talks with its lenders, that these early proposals are not ready to act on yet. No filing names a bidder.
The company’s investor page says it “must prepare for the possibility that a sale to continue the business cannot be achieved.” It also says the liquidation path “is not the path the Company is striving toward.”
The brand can outlive the stores. The declaration says the options studied include a sale of The Children’s Place or Gymboree names alone. Another would keep the names in a separate company that licenses them to other sellers. Whatever happens, the stores that are not sold face “a court-supervised wind-down,” the declaration says.
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| Nov 6, 2026 | Liquidation sales begin; later purchases are final sale |
| Nov 8, 2026 | Chapter 11 filing in New Jersey |
| Nov 10, 2026 | Set by the court: first hearing, 1:00 pm ET |
| Nov 17, 2026 | Proposed: last day to pick a lead bidder |
| Dec 9, 2026 | Proposed: bids due |
| Dec 11, 2026 | Proposed: auction, if there are rival bids |
| Dec 15, 2026 | Proposed: court hearing to approve a sale |
| Feb 28, 2027 | Planned end of the liquidation sales |
The calendar is short. Under the schedule the company proposed, bids are due December 9 and a sale hearing comes on December 15. Before that, it may pick a lead bidder, a first buyer whose offer sets the floor for the others. The court has not approved that schedule yet. The company is also asking a court in Ontario to recognize the case, so its Canadian stores join the sale.
Its banker’s court declaration lists falling sales and profits, tough competition, higher costs and very little cash. On August 1, 2026, its debts topped its assets by about $139 million.
The Beers declaration names those pressures as “declining sales and profitability, competitive and promotional pressures, increased costs, and significant liquidity constraints.” Sales fell 18.9% in the quarter that ended August 1, 2026, the quarterly report says. Store and website sales fell on fewer shoppers, and the company also cut shipments to wholesale customers as planned.
| Measure | Figure |
|---|---|
| Net sales, quarter ended August 1, 2026 | $241.8 million (a year earlier: $298.0 million) |
| Store and website sales, same quarter | Down 15.0%, on lower traffic |
| Net loss, same quarter | $31.0 million |
| Total assets, August 1, 2026 | $742.3 million |
| Total debts, August 1, 2026 | $881.3 million |
| Loans in default with the filing | About $394 million |
Source: Form 10-Q for the quarter ended August 1, 2026; Beers declaration, Docket 22; voluntary petition, Docket 1; Form 8-K of November 9, 2026.
The filing made the company’s main loans due at once, though the bankruptcy pauses any effort to collect them, according to the 8-K. Mithaq Capital SPC, which the company calls its controlling stockholder, meaning the investor that controls it, is one of the lenders. The company plans a new loan from its existing secured lenders, those whose loans are backed by its property, to pay its way through the sale. What a bankruptcy usually means for shareholders is in StockTitan’s guide on what happens to your shares when a company files for bankruptcy.
What to watch
Our numbers
These figures are our calculations from the sources linked in this article. The balances are the company’s own accounting values on August 1, 2026, the latest it reported before the filing, and they change every day as shoppers earn and spend.
Not for now. The company filed for Chapter 11 on November 8, 2026, and wants a buyer who keeps the business running, with bids due December 9 under its proposed schedule. Its stores and websites are open, but some stores will close. If no buyer is found, the remaining stores would wind down under the court.
The My Place Rewards credit card is issued by Comenity Capital Bank, according to the rewards page, and the company’s report says a third-party bank extends the credit. The company’s customer page about the bankruptcy does not mention the card. Points earned with it are My Place Rewards points, which the company says can be used only for a limited time.
The Children’s Place is a public company listed on Nasdaq under the ticker PLCE. Its quarterly report calls Mithaq Capital SPC its controlling stockholder, and Mithaq has also lent it money.
Yes. The company’s customer page says, “We expect your orders and deliveries will continue without interruption.” Anything ordered after November 6, 2026 is final sale.
The company posts shopper news on its customer page, and court papers go on the claims agent’s case website, omniagentsolutions.com/TCP. Its press releases and SEC filings, the bankruptcy 8-K included, are on StockTitan’s PLCE news page and PLCE filings page.
Sources
