FACTBOX: Recent retail bankruptcies

(Reuters) - Retailers Goody's and Gottschalks filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this week, joining a growing list of store chains hit hard by a year-long recession.

Restructuring experts see a wave of retail bankruptcies in the coming months due to dismal sales and a credit crunch. Some expect the largest U.S. chains will weather the storm better than their local and regional rivals.

Here is a list of some U.S. retailers who have filed for bankruptcy protection in recent months:

GOTTSCHALKS INC

The regional department store chain filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on January 14. Based in Fresno, California, the company said it had negotiated $125 million in debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing from a group of lenders led by GE Capital, a unit of General Electric Co.

Gottschalks was founded in 1904 and operates 58 department stores and three specialty apparel stores in the western United States. It plans to pursue options that include the sale of the company or another transaction.

GOODY'S LLC

Privately held family apparel retailer Goody's said in a court filing on January 13 that it again filed Chapter 11 and that it plans to liquidate its remaining 282 stores.

The move comes less than three months after it emerged from bankruptcy. The company said that a "significant downturn in the national economy caused severe and unexpected financial pressures." Goody's, based in Knoxville, Tennessee, was founded in 1953 and operates in 20 U.S. states, mostly in the Southeast.

CIRCUIT CITY STORES INC

The No. 2 U.S. consumer electronics retailer filed for bankruptcy on November 10, becoming the largest retailer to file for Chapter 11 since Kmart in 2002.

The 59-year-old retailer fell victim to tighter credit terms from vendors, a dwindling cash position and decreased consumer spending amid the deepening economic crisis.

On January 9 the Richmond, Virginia-based company received court approval to put itself up for sale and said it was in talks with two parties that could either buy the chain or provide additional financing. It did not name the parties.

Mexican retail and media entrepreneur Ricardo Salinas Pliego has built up a stake of at least 28 percent in the company. His spokesman said this week the tycoon was considering a bid for Circuit City but would not say whether he was one of the unidentified negotiating partners.

BOSCOV'S DEPARTMENT STORE LLC

Boscov's filed for Chapter 11 on August 4. An investment group led by Albert Boscov and Edwin Lakin bought the family-owned chain in a $300 million deal that closed in December.

The department store chain was founded in 1911 and had 39 locations on the U.S. East Coast.

Albert Boscov is the uncle of Boscov's Chief Executive Ken Lakin and was previously chairman and chief executive of the chain. Edwin Lakin is Ken Lakin's father.

MERVYN'S LLC

The department store chain filed for Chapter 11 on July 29 and in October said it would liquidate after the holiday season after exhausting options that would allow it to stay open.

The privately held company operated 177 stores in the Southwest at the time of its bankruptcy filing.

In 2004 Target Corp sold Mervyn's to a private investment company formed by affiliates of Sun Capital Partners Inc, Cerberus Capital Management LP and Lubert-Andler and Klaff Partners LP.

Cerberus sold out of the chain in 2007 but kept a 15 percent interest in its real estate holdings.

LINENS 'N THINGS

Linens closed some of its 589 stores and filed for Chapter 11 on May 2. In October, the Clifton, New Jersey-based home goods retailer began liquidating its remaining stores after it failed to find a buyer.

The second-largest home goods retailer in North America, bought by Leon Black's buyout firm Apollo Management in 2006, is among the largest companies taken private in the recent buyout boom to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

KB TOYS INC

One of the largest U.S. toy retailers, KB filed Chapter 11 on December 11, with a plan to close all of its stores and begin liquidation in the middle of the holiday season.

The filing was the second in four years for the privately held toy retailer, which started as a family-owned business in 1922 and ran about 460 stores when it made its most recent filing.

The Pittsfield, Massachusetts-based company said it plans to close all its stores across the United States, Guam and Puerto Rico by early February.

(Reporting by Lisa Baertlein)