Discount retailer Value City Department Stores and its subsidiaries have filed for bankruptcy protection and plan to close all of their stores.

Bankruptcy papers filed in New York say the Columbus, Ohio-based company blames declining sales, tight credit and the sour economy for crippling its business.

The filings follow a series of restructuring efforts and layoffs aimed at keeping the business afloat. It has closed more than 75 stores since December 2007.

It has 66 open stores and more than 4,500 employees in 14 states.

The chain, which has been closing stores for some time, used to be part of Schottenstein Stores. In a restructuring in 2003, the department stores became a subsidiary of publicly held Retail Ventures Inc.

Jay Schottenstein is chairman of RVI as well as chairman of Columbus, Ohio-based Top 100 company American Signature, which operates American Signature and Value City Furniture stores. RVI sold its majority stake in Value City Department Stores in January to VCHI Acquisition Co.

Michael Broidy, vice president of corporate affairs for Schottenstein Stores, said neither Jay Schottenstein nor Schottenstein Stores has any ownership or role in the department stores and that the move by its current owner “should have absolutely no impact on American Signature and Value City Furniture.”

Schottenstein Stores is listed among Value City’s largest unsecured creditors with a claim of $947,886.

Value City was founded in 1917 by Ephraim Schottenstein, a travelling salesman in central Ohio.

The Schottenstein family is best known as one of the main contributors to famous Schottenstein Talmud edition.

The Schottenstein family’s once had an estimated wealth of $2 billion, coming mainly from Retail Ventures and American Eagle Outfitters, in which it owns a 26.5 % stake.

(Sources: Furniture Today / Columbus Dispatch / Wikipedia / 10TV / NBC4i)