Home decor retailer Schoolhouse lays off most employees, future uncertain

Schoolhouse, a Portland-based home décor retailer, abruptly laid off most of its staff this week, casting doubt on the company’s future.

The layoffs come amid ongoing financial struggles at its parent company, Food52. The New York–based food and lifestyle publisher acquired Schoolhouse in 2021 for $48 million.

Thomas Hewson, a Schoolhouse employee and union steward with IBEW Local 48, said Food52 leadership announced the layoffs during an all-staff Zoom meeting on Wednesday. He said employees at both Food52 and Schoolhouse were affected but declined to specify how many workers were let go.

In an email, Food52 spokesperson Donna Simonelli said about 75% of the company’s overall workforce was laid off, with the majority of those cuts at Schoolhouse. She said a “small group of employees” remains on the job to keep things running, including unionized manufacturing workers who are protected by contracts that require advanced notice before layoffs.

Neither Hewson nor Simonelli specified the number of employees laid off or Schoolhouse’s headcount beforehand.

“Food52 wants to emphasize that these decisions reflect the financial realities facing the business at this moment, not the caliber or performance of its employees,” Simonelli said.

Whether Schoolhouse will continue to exist remains unclear.

Simonelli said Food52’s leadership and its majority owner, The Chernin Group, have been trying to sell the company — including Schoolhouse and design brand Dansk — for several months. The expectation, she said, was that the business could continue operating during that process.

But that plan unraveled earlier this week. Simonelli said Food52 lost the support of its main lender, creating immediate problems with cash flow and access to capital for day-to-day operations. With funding suddenly cut off, Simonelli said, the company decided to slash expenses and reduce staff while continuing to pursue the sale.

Multiple Schoolhouse employees who attended Wednesday’s all-staff meeting said they expected an update on the potential sale but were instead surprised by the layoff announcement. They said Food52 CEO Erika Ayers Badan told staff that banks had frozen the company’s accounts as loans and vendor payments had gone unpaid.

The layoffs followed earlier signs of trouble. In March, Food52 cut about 40% of its workforce — including many on the Portland manufacturing team — as part of a broader move to outsource more production overseas, AdWeek reported. Two months later, the historic building that houses Schoolhouse’s Northwest Portland headquarters was put up for sale.

Simonelli said Schoolhouse and Food52 plan to continue fulfilling and shipping customer orders that were placed before the layoffs.

Founded in 2003, Schoolhouse sells a range of home products, from lighting fixtures to rugs. It competes with another well-known Portland brand, Rejuvenation, which was sold to Williams-Sonoma in 2011.