LL Flooring Holdings, Inc. - Annual Report: 2021 (Form 10-K)

Table of Contents

​

​

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

☒ ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2021

OR

☐ TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the transition period from                      to                       

Commission file number: 001-33767

LL Flooring Holdings, Inc.

(Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in its Charter)

​

(804) 463-2000

(Registrant’s telephone number, including area code)

Formerly Lumber Liquidators Holdings, Inc.

(Former name or former address, if changed since last report)

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

​

Trading Symbol: LL

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. Yes ◻   No ⌧

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act. Yes ◻   No ⌧

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant: (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. Yes ⌧   No ◻

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). Yes ⌧   No ◻

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company or an emerging growth company. See definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act. (Check one):

​

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report.   ⌧

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act). Yes ☐   No ⌧

As of June 30, 2021, the last business day of the registrant’s most recent second quarter, the aggregate market value of the registrant’s common stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant was $600.2 million based on the closing sale price as reported on the New York Stock Exchange.

Indicate the number of shares outstanding of each of the registrant’s classes of common stock as of February 18, 2022:

]

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

Part III incorporates certain information by reference from the registrant’s proxy statement for the 2022 annual meeting of stockholders, which will be filed no later than 120 days after the close of the registrant’s fiscal year ended December 31, 2021.

​

​

​

​

Table of Contents

LL FLOORING HOLDINGS, INC.

ANNUAL REPORT ON FORM 10-K

TABLE OF CONTENTS

​

​

​

2

Table of Contents

CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENT

This report includes statements of the Company’s expectations, intentions, plans and beliefs that constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meanings of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements, which may be identified by words such as “may,” “will,” “should,” “expects,” “intends,” “plans,” “anticipates,” “believes,” “thinks,” “estimates,” “seeks,” “predicts,” “could,” “projects,” “potential” and other similar terms and phrases, are based on the beliefs of the Company’s management, as well as assumptions made by, and information currently available to, the Company’s management as of the date of such statements. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties, all of which are difficult to predict and many of which are beyond the Company’s control. These risks include, without limitation, the impact of any of the following:

​

3

Table of Contents

The Company specifically disclaims any obligation to update these statements, which speak only as of the dates on which such statements are made, except as may be required under the federal securities laws. These risks and other factors include those listed in this Item 1A. “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in this report.

References to “we,” “our,” “us,” “the Company”, “Lumber Liquidators”, and “LL Flooring” generally refers to LL Flooring Holdings, Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries collectively and, where applicable, individually.

PART I

​

Item 1. Business.

Overview

LL Flooring Holdings, Inc. (“LL Flooring” or “Company”) is one of North America’s leading specialty retailers of hard-surface flooring, with 424 stores as of December 31, 2021. Our Company seeks to offer the best customer experience online and in stores, with more than 500 varieties of hard-surface floors featuring a range of quality styles and on-trend designs. Our online tools also help empower customers to find the right solution for the space they’ve envisioned. Our extensive selection includes waterproof vinyl plank, solid and engineered hardwood, laminate, bamboo, porcelain tile, and cork, with a wide range of flooring enhancements and accessories to complement. Our stores are staffed with flooring experts who provide advice, Pro partnership services and installation options for all of our products, the majority of which is in stock and ready for delivery. Our vision is to be the customer’s first choice in hard-surface flooring by providing the best experience, from inspiration to installation. We offer a wide selection of high-quality, stocked products and the accessible flooring expertise and service of a local store, with the scale, omni-channel convenience and value of a national chain. We plan to leverage this advantage to differentiate ourselves in the highly fragmented flooring market. We launched our new digital platform, LLFlooring.com, in December 2020. In February 2021, we launched our new mobile app featuring our popular Picture It! and Floor Finder tools and making it easy to order installations.

​

Beginning in the second quarter of 2020, we experienced, as did many retailers, a significant disruption to our business due to COVID-19. We continue to navigate uncertainty in the macroeconomic environment related to COVID-19 global supply chain disruptions, consumer spending, inflation, and a challenging labor market. During the second quarter of 2020 we limited our inventory purchases as a direct result of COVID-19. Supply chain disruption on replenishment kept inventory below our targeted level during the second half of 2020 and all of 2021. As a result, we believe we could have captured more sales in the fourth quarter of 2020 and the full year 2021 if our inventories had been higher.

LL Flooring is a Delaware corporation with its headquarters in Richmond, Virginia. We were founded in 1994 and our initial public offering was in November 2007. Our common stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “LL.” During 2021 we made significant progress in the transition of our brand from Lumber Liquidators to LL Flooring. Effective January 1, 2022 we completed our corporate entity name change from Lumber Liquidators Holdings, Inc to LL Flooring Holdings, Inc. We operate in a holding company structure with LL Flooring Holdings, Inc. serving as our parent company and certain direct and indirect subsidiaries, including LL Flooring, Inc. and LL Flooring Services, conducting our operations.

Our Business

Market

We operate in a large, growing, highly fragmented hard-surface flooring market in the U.S. Based on internal estimates as well as Catalina Research, Inc.’s Report on Floor Coverings, Annual Market Report 2021, we estimate U.S. hard-surface flooring retail sales (excluding installation labor and non-flooring accessory products) were $31 billion in 2020, an increase of approximately 7% compared to 2019, and total flooring retail sales including soft-surface flooring were approximately $51 billion in 2020, not including installation labor and non-flooring accessory products. Flooring

4

Table of Contents

sales are driven by a number of factors including discretionary income and trends in the housing market. Based on Company estimates and our review of external economic data including existing home sales, the NAHB remodeling index, new housing starts and the U.S. Census, we expect flooring sales to continue to benefit from aging and insufficient housing availability, rising home values and new household formations, among other factors. From 2017 through 2020, we estimate installed sales of hard-surface flooring grew at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13% compared to a negative CAGR for soft-surface flooring. We believe improvements in the quality and construction of certain products, increasing resiliency and water-tolerance of products, ease of installation, availability in a broad range of retail price points, and movement away from soft surfaces will drive continued hard-surface flooring share gain versus soft surface flooring in the future.

Competition

We compete for customers in a highly fragmented marketplace, where we believe no single retailer has captured more than a 15% share of the consumer market for flooring (including carpet and area rugs) based on internal estimates as well as Catalina Research, Inc.’s Report on Floor Coverings, Annual Market Report 2021. The largest segment of the market is represented by independent specialty retailers comprised of local one-store flooring retailers, small chains of stores that may specialize in one or two flooring categories, and a limited number of regional chains. We also compete against national home improvement warehouse chains, national specialty retailers, warehouse clubs and online retailers. We believe we offer a compelling value proposition to customers as we provide a wide selection of high-quality, stocked products and the accessible flooring expertise and service of a local store, with the scale, omni-channel convenience and value of a national chain.

Customers

We target several distinct customer groups who each have varied needs with respect to their flooring purchases, including do-it-yourself (“DIY”) customers, installation customers, and Pro customers. We believe that each of the customer groups we serve is passionate about their flooring purchase and values our wide assortment of flooring products, availability, and the quality of those products. While our offering to each of these groups begins with the same broad assortment and knowledgeable store associates, each of these customer groups requires unique service components based on the ability of our associates to share detailed product knowledge and preferred installation methods. We offer customers installation services and also provide dedicated call center resources through our Customer Relationship Center for our DIY and Pro customers. All customer groups are offered delivery services.

Products and Services

Product Selection

We offer an extensive assortment of hard-surface flooring under multiple proprietary brand names, led by our flagships, Bellawood® and Coreluxe®. We launched a new flooring category in the third quarter of 2021, Duravana^TM hybrid resilient flooring, which combines the best characteristics of traditional flooring and the latest technology for waterproofing. Duravana is eco-friendly, 100% PVC free and the MDF core is manufactured from responsibly managed forests as certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. We have invested significant resources developing these national brand names. Our hard-surface flooring products feature a range of quality styles and on-trend designs and are generally differentiated in terms of quality and price based on wood versus manufactured materials, the wood species, grade, and durability of finish. Prefinished floors are the dominant choice for residential customers over unfinished wood planks that have a finish applied after installation. We also offer an assortment of installation services and accessories, including moldings, underlayment, adhesives and tools.

Direct Sourcing

We source directly from flooring and other vendors, which enables us to offer a broad assortment of high-quality proprietary products to our customers at a consistently competitive cost. We seek to establish strong, long-term relationships with our vendors around the world. In doing so, we look for vendors that have demonstrated an ability to meet our demanding specifications, our rigorous compliance standards and the capability to provide sustainable and

5

Table of Contents

growing supplies of high-quality, innovative, trend-right products. We source from both domestic and international vendors, and in 2021, approximately 53% of our product was sourced in North America, 35% was sourced from Asia, 7% was sourced from Europe, and 4% was sourced from South America. In order to reduce our costs, we have been actively moving our products subject to Section 301 tariffs from China into other countries, including North America.

Supply Chain

Our supply chain is wholly focused on delivering a complete assortment of products to our customers in an efficient manner. We own a one million square foot distribution center on approximately 100 acres of land in Henrico County, Virginia, which serves the stores located in the easternmost two-thirds of the United States. We operate a 500,000 square foot leased distribution center in Pomona, California as the primary distribution center for the stores located in the westernmost one-third of the United States. A number of our vendors maintain certain inventory levels for shipment directly to our stores or our customers. Our product is generally transported boxed and palletized, and the weight of our product is a key driver of our supply chain costs.

Compliance and Quality Control

Our compliance programs are designed to ensure the products we sell are safe and responsibly sourced, and meet all regulatory and statutory requirements, including, without limitation, requirements associated with the Lacey Act, United States Environment Protection Agency ("EPA") and the California Air Resources Board (“CARB”). We utilize a variety of due diligence processes and controls, including supplier audits, periodic on-site visits, and product testing to ensure such compliance. We utilize a risk-based approach to implement and operate the various aspects of our compliance program. Our compliance program considers, among other things, product risk, the level of vertical integration at our suppliers’ mills, legality concerns noted by both private and government parties, and the results of on-site audits that we perform. Our evaluation of sourcing risk is a key component in our allocation of resources to ensure we meet our standards for product compliance and safety. Compliance and Quality Control teams located in the United States and in China are supplemented with independent third-party resources that provide independent audits and inspections, which are incorporated into our review processes and monitor our sourcing efforts across all areas from which we source product. Compliance programs and functions are continually under review, updated and enhanced as appropriate to stay current with industry, statutory and regulatory requirements. Our Compliance and Regulatory Affairs Committee of the Board of Directors provides oversight of our compliance programs.

Additionally, we maintain and operate a 1,500 square foot lab within our distribution center on the east coast. The lab features two temperature and humidity controlled conditioning rooms and two emission chambers correlated to a CARB- and EPA-approved Third-Party Certifier standard. We believe this equipment mirrors the requirements of CARB, EPA, and capabilities of other state-of-the-art emission testing facilities. This lab, along with our third-party providers, supports our process to ensure compliance with CARB and EPA requirements. We also maintain a lab in Shanghai.

Installation

Almost 12% of our total net revenue in 2021 was from installation sales.   Our customers purchase professional installation services through us to measure and install our flooring at competitive prices. We offer these services at all of our stores. As of December 31, 2021, we utilize a network of associates to perform certain customer-facing, consultative services and coordinate the installation of our flooring products by third-party professional independent contractors. Service revenue for installation transactions that we control along with freight is included in net services sales, with the corresponding costs in cost of services sold. We believe our greater interaction with the customer and strong relationships with the third-party professional independent contractors ultimately results in a better customer experience.

Store Model

As of December 31, 2021, we operated 424 retail stores. We opened 15 new stores and closed one store in 2021. Although we have certain criteria that we require for every store, we are able to adapt a range of existing buildings to our format, including freestanding buildings, strip centers, or small shopping centers. Our stores are typically 6,500 to

6

Table of Contents

7,500 square feet. We enter into short leases, generally for a base term of five to seven years with renewal options, to maximize our real estate flexibility.

We routinely evaluate our store site selection criteria and are currently targeting retail corridors within a market over the more industrial locations we historically sought. We consistently monitor performance of current stores as well as the market opportunity for new locations, adjusting as needed to optimize the profitability and growth potential of our store portfolio.

Sales Approach

We strive to have an integrated omni-channel sales model that enables our stores, Customer Relationship Center, digital platform, and catalogs to work together in a coordinated manner. We believe that due to the average size of the sale and the general infrequency of a flooring purchase, many of our customers conduct extensive research using multiple channels before making a purchase decision. Though our customers utilize a range of these channels in the decision-making process, the final sale is most often completed in the store, working with our flooring experts. Our DIY and installation customers typically plan well in advance for the inconvenience of removing old flooring and installing new flooring. Our Pros often have larger, more complex projects, and greater lead time and preparation is often required. Our research indicates that the length of a hard-surface flooring purchase can vary significantly from initial interest to final sale.

Our objective is to help the customer through the entire purchase cycle from inspiration to installation, whether in our store or in their home. Our goal is to provide our customers with everything needed to complete their flooring project – to remove the existing floor, install the new floor with complementary moldings and accessories, and finally, maintain the floor.

Our sales strategy emphasizes customer service by providing superior, convenient, educational tools for our customers to learn about our products and the installation process. We invest in training our store team and virtual sales team members on all of our products and install techniques. Flooring samples for most of the products we offer are available in our stores or can be ordered through our digital platform or contact center. Once an order is placed, customers may choose to either have their purchases delivered to their home or job site, or pick them up at a nearby store location.

We are committed to responding to our customers in a timely manner. Our Customer Relationship Center is staffed by flooring experts cross-trained in sales, customer service and product support. In addition to receiving telephone calls, our contact center associates chat online with visitors to our digital platform, respond to emails from our customers and engage in virtual selling. Customers can contact our Customer Relationship Center to place an order, to make an inquiry, or to order a catalog.

Knowledgeable Salespeople

We believe a large segment of residential homeowners are in need of a trusted expert, whether as a guide through a range of flooring alternatives and services or as a resource to both DIY and installation customers. We are deploying robust programs to train our store management and associates to serve our customers at the highest level. This training focuses on selling techniques and in-depth product knowledge for our store associates, who, we believe, are a key driver in a customer’s purchasing decision.

We place an emphasis on identifying, hiring, and empowering associates who share a passion for our business philosophy where possible. Many of our store managers have previous experience with the home improvement, retail flooring or flooring installation industries. We are also adding regional managers and store managers in training to build our future store leadership.

7

Table of Contents

Digital / Omni-Channel

We launched our new digital platform, LLFlooring.com in December 2020. This mobile-friendly site features inspirational content, showcases our flooring in digital room scenes, highlights our digital tools like Picture It!, and Floor Finder and promotes our services such as the ability to order a free installation estimate and flooring samples. Our digital platform contains a broad range of information on our products and services, including a comprehensive knowledge base on all aspects of flooring. Customers can also shop from home with a live sales associate in one of our stores through our virtual shopping experience. We also offer extensive product reviews, before and after photos from previous customer projects, style and design trends via the LL Style blog and how-to installation videos. A customer also has the ability to chat live with a flooring expert, either online or over the phone, regarding questions about a flooring purchase or installation. We continue to develop new features and functionality to assist customers, and to ensure they have robust tools at their disposal that are effective at helping them make the ideal flooring choice as they move between other channels. In April 2021, we launched an e-Commerce experience for our Pro customers, offering online ordering with exclusive Pro pricing and delivery rates on our selection of over 500 floors.

Advertising and Financing

Advertising: We continue to utilize a mix of digital and traditional media, email and direct mail, to balance product, service and value messaging.   We also leverage our investments in paid, owned and earned media to build brand consideration and to educate customers on the flooring category.  Overall, we proactively manage the mix of our media to ensure we efficiently drive sales while effectively building awareness of our brand value proposition. Our marketing strategy reflects our investment in digital capabilities enabling us to better engage customers with targeted messaging that drives them through the funnel, and we believe this aligns well with shifts in consumer behaviors since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

We have been transitioning our brand from Lumber Liquidators to LL Flooring. Customers increasingly begin their flooring journey online, and in 2021, we continued to leverage the LL Flooring brand in conjunction with the Lumber Liquidators brand on our website and in marketing materials.  Additionally, during 2021 we made significant progress in the transition of our brand from Lumber Liquidators to LL Flooring. We plan to complete the rebranding of our stores in 2022 as part of our long-term brand evolution, and we continue to be excited about customer feedback from those who experienced the LL Flooring brand as more approachable, relevant and of higher quality. 

Financing: We offer our residential customers a financing alternative through a proprietary credit card, the LL Flooring credit card, underwritten by a third-party financial institution, generally with no recourse to us. This program serves the dual function of providing financial flexibility to our customers and offering us promotional opportunities featuring deferred interest, which we often combine with product promotions. Our customers may also use their LL Flooring credit card for installation services. We also offer our Pro customers a financing alternative, which is underwritten by a third-party financial institution, generally with no recourse to us. The commercial credit program provides our Pro customers a range of additional services that we believe add flexibility to their businesses.

Human Capital Management

Our people are the core of our business and we commit to deliver them an inclusive, diverse team and culture that understands and adapts to the varying needs of our customers. We seek to provide an engaging work experience that excites and motivates our team members to deliver their best every day. We also aim to provide opportunities for learning and growth, to ensure our team is always the best in the business.

​

We executed on our transformation plan throughout 2021 to mature as a high-touch specialty flooring company and deliver shareholder value. Our transformation plan includes the four strategic pillars of people and culture, improving the customer experience, driving traffic and transactions in our stores and online, and improving profitability.

​

Our first strategic pillar, people and culture, is a critical driving force behind our transformation plan. Our recent efforts have been focused in three areas: our Company’s culture and training, the safety and health of our associates; and driving diversity and inclusion.

8

Table of Contents

​

Culture and Training

​

Our Company’s vision: to be the customer’s first choice in hard-surface flooring by providing the best experience, from inspiration to installation. We identify the following six guiding values as the foundation of our culture:

​

​

In recent years, we added more regional and store managers in training to build our bench of future store leadership. Our field leadership has also focused on developing a more robust store and regional manager training program that promotes both diverse and inclusive leadership as well as driving greater internal career advancement. In 2021, we promoted more than 500 associates and invested substantial hours of training across the organization.

​

Safety and Health

​

Our commitment to the safety of our associates is an essential and ongoing part of our business. We require careful attention to safety with respect to handling product in our warehouses and stores, as well as during the installation and delivery processes. During COVID-19 we prioritized the safety of our associates and customers and followed rigorous standards for mask wearing, social distance and cleaning protocols. We have mixed remote and in-person work for all corporate support associates including senior management based on local conditions. We have upgraded certain of our ventilation systems and added UV-C sanitizing lights in our conference rooms and break areas. We continue to be judicious about travel and contact to help protect not only our associates but also the communities in which we live. We also provided emergency relief pay to our associates affected by COVID-19 exposure or related facility closures.

​

Diversity, Equity & Inclusion

​

As part of our transformation, we are driving diversity, equity and inclusion across our Company. This commitment is supported by training and awareness programs as well as focused efforts to recruit, retain, develop and promote a diverse workforce. Our Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Taskforce, comprised of a diverse group of associates, is helping to ensure associates can thrive and grow professionally. They continue to share ideas on what diversity, equity and inclusion should look like in our Company. We are also working with external consultants to connect our work with best practices and insights related to diversity, equity and inclusion.

​

Associates

​

As of December 31, 2021, we had approximately 2,400 associates, 97% of whom were full-time and none of whom were represented by a union. Of these associates, 73% work in our stores, 19% work in corporate store support infrastructure or similar functions (including our call center associates) and 8% work in one of our distribution centers. We believe that we have good relations with our associates.

​

Seasonality and Quarterly Results

Our quarterly results of operations can fluctuate depending on the timing of our advertising and the timing of, and income contributed by, our new stores. Our net sales fluctuate slightly as a result of seasonal factors, and we adjust merchandise inventories in anticipation of those factors, causing variations in our build of merchandise inventories. Generally, we experience higher-than-average net sales in the spring and fall, when more home remodeling activities typically are taking place, and lower-than-average net sales in the colder winter months and during the hottest summer months. Our 2020 and 2021 results were impacted by the uncertainty and ongoing impact of the COVID-19

9

Table of Contents

pandemic. In the second quarter of 2020, we experienced, as did many retailers, a significant disruption to our business due to COVID-19. We continue to navigate uncertainty in the macroeconomic environment related to COVID-19, global supply chain disruptions, consumer spending, inflation, and the anniversary of large COVID 19 stimulus payments in both 2020 and 2021. During the second quarter of 2020 we limited our inventory purchases as a direct result of COVID-19. Supply chain disruption on replenishment kept inventory below our targeted level during the second half of 2020 and 2021. As a result, we believe we could have captured more sales in the fourth quarter of 2020 and 2021 if our inventories had been higher. The spread of the COVID-19 Omicron variant also had a negative effect late in 2021 and into 2022.

Intellectual Property and Trademarks

We have a number of marks registered in the United States, including LLFlooring®, Floor Love™, Lumber Liquidators®, Floor Finder®, Duravana™, Bellawood®, 1-800-HARDWOOD®, Quickclic®, Virginia Mill Works Co. Hand Scraped and Distressed Floors®, Dream Home Laminate Floors®, Builder’s Pride®,  Avella®, Coreluxe®, Tranquility Resilient Flooring®, Lisbon Cork Co. Ltd. ®, Colston Hardwood Flooring ®, ReNature™, AquaSeal ™, Dual Defense™ and other product line names. We regard our intellectual property as having significant value and these names are an important factor in the marketing of our brands. Accordingly, we take steps intended to protect our intellectual property including, where necessary, the filing of lawsuits and administrative actions to enforce our rights.

Government Regulation

We are subject to extensive and varied federal, provincial, state and local government regulations in the jurisdictions in which we operate, including laws and regulations relating to our relationships with our associates and customers, independent third-party installers, public health and safety, zoning, accommodations for persons with disabilities, and fire codes. We are also subject to a number of compliance obligations pursuant to various settlement agreements we have entered into over the past few years. We operate each of our stores, offices and distribution centers in accordance with standards and procedures designed to comply with all applicable laws, codes, licensing requirements and regulations. Certain of our operations and properties are also subject to federal, provincial, state and local laws and regulations relating to the use, storage, handling, generation, transportation, treatment, emission, release, discharge and disposal of hazardous materials, substances and wastes and relating to the investigation and cleanup of contaminated properties, including off-site disposal locations. We do not currently incur significant costs complying with the laws and regulations related to hazardous materials. However, we could be subject to material costs, liabilities or claims relating to compliance in the future, especially in the event of changes in existing laws and regulations or in their interpretation, as well as the passage of new laws and regulations.

Our suppliers are subject to the laws and regulations of their home countries, as well as those relative to the import of their products into the United States, including, in particular, laws regulating labor, forestry and the environment. Our suppliers are subject to periodic compliance audits, onsite visits and other reviews, as appropriate, in efforts to ensure that they are in compliance with all laws and regulations. We also support social and environmental responsibility among our supplier community and our suppliers agree to comply with our expectations concerning environmental, labor and health and safety matters. Those expectations include representations and warranties that our suppliers comply with the laws, rules and regulations of the countries in which they operate.

Products that we import into the United States and, formerly, Canada are subject to laws and regulations imposed in conjunction with such importation, including those issued and/or enforced by United States Customs and Border Protection and the Canadian Border Services Agency. In addition, certain of our products are subject to laws and regulations relating to the importation, acquisition or sale of illegally harvested plants and plant products and the emissions of hazardous materials. We work closely with our suppliers to understand their compliance applicable laws and regulations in these areas.

Available Information

We maintain a website at LLFlooring.com. The information on or available through our website is not, and should not be considered, a part of this annual report on Form 10-K. You may access our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K and amendments to those reports, as well as other reports

10

Table of Contents

relating to us that are filed with, or furnished to, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) free of charge on our digital platform www.investors.LLFlooring.com as soon as reasonably practicable after such material is electronically filed with, or furnished to, the SEC. The SEC also maintains an Internet site, www.sec.gov, which contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information that we file electronically with the SEC.

​

Item 1A. Risk Factors.

The risks described below could materially and adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows. These risks are not the only risks that we face. Our business operations could also be affected by additional factors that apply generally to companies operating in the United States and globally, as well as other risks that are not presently known to us or that we currently consider to be immaterial.

Risks Related to Our Business Operations

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted, and may continue to disrupt, our business, which could adversely affect our financial performance

The effects of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic have included and could continue to include disruptions in our supply chain, disruptions or restrictions on the ability or availability of many of our associates to work effectively, including because of illness, quarantines, government actions, facility closures or other restrictions, as well as temporary closures of certain of our showrooms, or the facilities of our customers or suppliers. The inability of our suppliers to meet our supply needs in a timely manner could cause delays in delivery to our customers, which could result in the cancellation of orders, customers’ refusal to accept deliveries, discounts to selling prices, and termination of customer relationships, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and liquidity. Even if we are able to find alternate sources for our supply needs, they may cost more, which could adversely impact our profitability and financial condition.

​

In addition, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in a widespread health crisis that is adversely affecting the economies and financial markets of many countries. It has disrupted the worldwide transportation network leading to less predictable inventory flow. There remains a great deal of uncertainty related to COVID-19, including risks from renewed shutdowns due to COVID-19, continued transportation disruptions, labor availability and consumer spending preferences. The extent to which the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic could impact our business, results of operations, financial condition and liquidity is highly uncertain and will depend on future developments, including consumer demand for home improvement. The potential impacts to the Company likely will not be fully recoverable.

​

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is a highly fluid and rapidly evolving situation, and we cannot anticipate with any certainty the length, scope, or the impacts in each of the jurisdictions that we operate. Various federal, state and local regulatory requirements concerning vaccination status for associates, testing and safety protocols may impose operating costs or restrictions on our business operations, which could adversely impact our profitability and financial condition.

Our success depends upon the ability to attract, develop and retain highly qualified associates.

​

We believe that our success has depended and continues to depend on the efforts and capabilities of our associates. Our ability to meet our labor needs while controlling labor costs is subject to many external factors including market pressure on wage rates, the size and health of the labor market and our reputation within the labor market. If there is significant employee turnover, it may result in increases in our costs due to higher wages, recruiting costs and/or training costs. We may not be able to achieve our operational goals if we are unable to attract, develop and retain qualified associates by providing competitive compensation and benefits, an engaging work experience for an inclusive, diverse team and culture or due to any negative market or industry perception, our stock price, and/or litigation.

11

Table of Contents

Increased transportation costs could harm our results of operations.

The efficient transportation of our products through our supply chain is a critical component of our operations. If the cost of fuel or other costs, such as duties and international container rates rise it would result in increases in our cost of sales due to additional transportation charges and fees. Additionally, there are a limited number of delivery companies capable of efficiently transporting our products from our suppliers. Consolidation within this industry could result in increased transportation costs. A reduction in the availability of qualified drivers and/or an increase in driver regulations could continue to increase our costs. Transportation costs, both international and domestic, may increase due to the global supply chain disruptions as a result of strong demand for inventory, which have been and may continue to be impacted by any changes in COVID-19 conditions. We may be unable to increase the price of our products to offset increased transportation charges, which could cause our operating results to deteriorate.

Our growth strategy depends in part on our ability to open new stores and is subject to many unpredictable factors.

As of December 31, 2021, we had 424 stores throughout the United States. Assuming the continued success of our store model and real estate strategy, we plan to accelerate future openings over the next several years. This growth strategy and the investment associated with the development of each new store may cause our operating results to fluctuate and be unpredictable or decrease our profits. Our future results and ability to implement our growth strategy will depend on various factors, including the following:

Failure to manage our growth effectively could harm our business and operating results.

In addition to accelerating the growth of new stores over the next several years, we are making technology investments designed to increase orders from our digital platform, Customer Relationship Center and dedicated Pro sales team. Our existing management information systems, including our store management systems, enterprise reporting platform, compliance procedures and financial and reporting controls, may be unable to support our expansion. Managing our growth effectively will require us to continue to enhance these systems, procedures and controls and to hire, train and retain regional and store managers and personnel for our compliance, IT, human resources and financial and reporting departments. We may not respond quickly enough to the changing demands that our expansion will impose on us. Any failure to manage our growth effectively could harm our business and operating results.

12

Table of Contents

Damage, destruction or disruption of our distribution centers could significantly impact our operations and impede our ability to distribute certain of our products.

We have two distribution centers that house products for the direct shipment of flooring to our stores. If either of our distribution centers or our inventory held in those locations were damaged or destroyed by fire, tornado, flooding, wood infestation or other causes, our distribution processes would be disrupted. If the major highways or railways leading to and from our distribution centers were shutdown due to weather or infrastructure conditions, our distribution processes would also be disrupted. Any of these disruptions to the distribution centers could cause significant delays in delivery. This could impede our ability to stock our stores and deliver products to our customers, and cause our net sales and operating results to deteriorate.

Our representative office in China may present increased legal and operational risks.

We have a representative office in Shanghai, China to facilitate our product sourcing in Asia. We may incur increased costs in complying with applicable local-country laws and regulations as they pertain to our products, operations and related activities. Further, if we fail to comply with applicable laws and regulations, we could be subject to, among other things, litigation and government and agency investigations.

Failure to effectively manage our third-party installers may present increased legal and operational risks.

We manage third-party professional independent contractors who provide installation services to some of our customers. In some jurisdictions, we are subject to regulatory requirements and risks applicable to general contractors, which include management of licensing, permitting and quality of our third-party installers. We have established procedures designed to manage these requirements and ensure customer satisfaction with the services provided by our third-party installers. If we fail to manage these procedures effectively or provide proper oversight of these services, we may be subject to regulatory enforcement and litigation and our net sales and our profitability and reputation could be harmed.

Unfavorable allegations, government investigations and legal actions surrounding our products or us could harm our reputation and impair our ability to grow or sustain our business.

We have been involved in a number of government investigations and legal actions, many of which have resulted from unfavorable allegations regarding our products and us. Negative publicity surrounding these government investigations and legal actions could continue to harm our reputation and the demand for our products. Additional unfavorable allegations, government investigations and legal actions involving our products and us could also affect our perception in the market and our brands and negatively impact our business and financial condition. For instance, unfavorable allegations with certain regulators surrounding the compliance of our laminates that had previously been sourced from China has negatively affected and could continue to negatively affect our operations. If this negative impact is significant, our ability to maintain our liquidity and grow or sustain our business could be jeopardized. The cost to defend ourselves and our former associates has been and could continue to be significant.

We are involved in a number of legal proceedings and, while we cannot predict the outcomes of these proceedings and other contingencies with certainty, some of the outcomes of these proceedings could adversely affect our business and financial condition.

We are, or may become, involved in legal proceedings, government and agency investigations, and consumer, employment, tort, and other litigation (see discussion of Legal Proceedings in Item 8. Note 10 to the consolidated financial statements). While we have accrued for material liabilities in connection with certain of these proceedings, we cannot predict with certainty the ultimate outcomes. The outcome of some of these legal proceedings could require us to take actions which could be costly to implement or otherwise negatively affect our operations or could require us to pay substantial amounts of money that could have a material adverse effect on our liquidity, financial condition and results of operations and could affect our ability to obtain capital or access our revolving loan and continue as a going concern. Additionally, defending against lawsuits and legal proceedings involves significant expense and diversion of management’s attention and resources.

13

Table of Contents

Our overall compliance program, including the Lacey Compliance Plan, is complex and costly to maintain. A failure to manage these programs could adversely affect our ability to conduct business, result in significant fines and other penalties, damage our brand and reputation, and, consequently, negatively impact our financial position and results of operations.

As disclosed in October 2015, we reached a settlement with the United States Department of Justice (“DOJ”) regarding our compliance with the Lacey Act. In connection with that settlement, we agreed to implement the Lacey Compliance Plan, and we were subject to a probation period of five years. Our implementation of the Lacey Compliance Plan, together with requirements resulting from other settlement agreements we have entered into over the past few years (including the Deferred Prosecution Agreement (the “DPA”) with the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia (the “U.S. Attorney”) and the DOJ entered into on March 12, 2019), was costly. In the event we breach the DPA, there is a risk the U.S. Attorney and the DOJ would seek to impose remedies provided for in the DPA, including criminal prosecution. Further, the failure to properly manage our overall compliance program and fully comply with the obligations imposed upon us by these various settlement agreements or implement any of the compliance requirements arising from these obligations could adversely affect our ability to conduct business, result in significant fines and other penalties, damage our brand and reputation and negatively impact our financial position and results of operations.

​

Our insurance coverage and self-insurance reserves may not cover existing or future claims.

With the large number of cases and government investigations, we may be required to defend ourselves and our officers, directors and former associates and we may be subject to financial harm in the event such cases or investigations are adversely determined and insurance coverage will not, or is not sufficient to, cover any related losses. We maintain various insurance policies, including directors and officers insurance, as well as the following:

For policies under which we are responsible for losses, we record a liability that represents our estimated cost of claims incurred and unpaid as of the balance sheet date. Unanticipated changes may produce materially different amounts of expense than those recorded, which could adversely impact our operating results. Additionally, our experience could limit our ability to obtain satisfactory insurance coverage, subjecting us to further loss, or could require significantly increased premiums.

Federal, provincial, state or local laws and regulations, including tariffs, or our failure to comply with such laws and regulations, and our obligations under certain settlement agreements related to our products could increase our expenses, restrict our ability to conduct our business and expose us to legal risks.

We are subject to a wide range of general and industry-specific laws and regulations imposed by federal, provincial, state and local authorities in the countries in which we operate, including those related to tariffs, customs, foreign operations (such as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act), truth-in-advertising, consumer protection, privacy, zoning and occupancy matters as well as the operation of retail stores and warehouse, production and distribution facilities and provision of installation services. In addition, various federal, provincial and state laws govern our relationship with and other matters pertaining to our associates, including wage and hour-related laws. If we fail to comply with these laws and regulations, we could be subject to legal risk, our operations could be impacted negatively and our reputation could be damaged. Likewise, if such laws and regulations should change, our costs of compliance may increase, thereby impacting our results and our profitability.

14

Table of Contents

Certain portions of our operations are subject to laws and regulations governing hazardous materials and wastes, the remediation of contaminated soil and groundwater, and the health and safety of associates. If we are unable to comply with, extend or renew a material approval, license or permit required by such laws, or if there is a delay in renewing any material approval, license or permit, our net sales and operating results could deteriorate or otherwise cause harm to our business.

With regard to our products, we spend significant resources in order to comply with applicable advertising, importation, exportation, environmental and health and safety laws and regulations. If we should violate these laws and regulations, we could experience delays in shipments of our goods, be subject to fines, penalties, criminal charges, or other legal risks, be liable for costs and damages, or suffer reputational harm, which could reduce demand for our merchandise and hurt our business and results of operations. Further, if such laws and regulations should change we may experience increased costs in order to adhere to the new standards. We are also subject to a number of settlement agreements that impose certain obligations on us with respect to the operation of our business. If we fail to comply with these obligations, we may experience additional costs and expenses and could be subject to additional legal risks.

Risks Related to Our Suppliers, Products and Product Sourcing

Our ability and cost to obtain cost-effective products, especially from Asia and other international suppliers, and the operations of many of our international suppliers are subject to risks that may be beyond our control and that could harm our operations and profitability.

We rely on a select group of international suppliers to provide us with imported flooring products that meet our specifications. In 2021, our imported product was sourced from Asia, Europe, Australia and South America. As a result, we are subject to risks associated with obtaining products from abroad, including:

​

By the end of 2021, approximately 20% of our product was sourced from China down from 34% a year ago. Included in merchandise inventories are tariff-related costs, including Section 301 tariffs on certain products imported from China in recent years. In November 2019, a subset of these imports for certain click vinyl and other engineered products (the “Subset Products”) received an exemption that was made retroactive to the initial levying of the Section 301 Tariffs. However, as of August 7, 2020, the exclusions on subset products expired and certain flooring products imported from China were again subject to a 25% Section 301 tariff. Potential costs and any attendant impact on pricing arising from these tariffs could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, financial condition, and liquidity.

​

These and other factors beyond our control could disrupt the ability of our suppliers to ship certain products to us cost-effectively or at all, which could harm our operations. If our product costs and consumer demand are adversely affected by foreign trade issues (including pandemic-related delays, import tariffs and other trade restrictions with China), our sales and profitability may suffer.

15

Table of Contents

The inflation or deflation of product cost could affect our prices, demand for our products, our sales and our profit margins.

Prices of certain products are subject to fluctuations arising from changes in international and domestic supply and demand, labor costs, competition, market speculation, government regulations, tariffs and trade restrictions, and periodic delays in delivery. Rapid and significant changes in product cost may affect the demand for our products, our sales and our profit margins.

Failure to identify and develop relationships with a sufficient number of qualified suppliers could affect our ability to obtain products that meet our high quality standards.

We purchase flooring directly from mills located around the world. We believe that these direct supplier relationships are important to our business. In order to retain the competitive advantage that we believe results from these relationships, we need to continue to identify, develop and maintain relationships with qualified suppliers that can satisfy our high standards for quality and our requirements for the delivery of hard-surface materials in a timely and efficient manner. We expect the need to develop new relationships to be particularly important as we seek to expand our operations, enhance our product offerings, and expand our product assortment and geographic source of origin in the future. Any inability to do so could reduce our competitiveness, slow our plans for further expansion and cause our net sales and operating results to deteriorate.

We rely on a concentrated number of suppliers for a significant portion of our supply needs. We generally do not have long-term contracts with our suppliers. In the future, our suppliers may be unable to supply us, or supply us on acceptable terms, due to various factors, which could include political instability in the supplier’s country, insufficient production capacity, product line failures, collusion, a supplier’s financial instability, inability or refusal to comply with applicable laws, trade restrictions, tariffs or our standards, duties, insufficient transport capacity and other factors beyond our control. In these circumstances, we could experience deterioration in our net sales and operating results.

The failure of our suppliers to comply with applicable laws, use ethical practices, and meet our quality standards could result in our suspending purchasing from them, negatively impacting net sales, and could expose us to reputational and legal risks.

While our suppliers agree to operate in compliance with applicable laws and regulations, we do not control our suppliers. Accordingly, despite our continued investment in compliance and quality control, we cannot guarantee that they comply with such laws and regulations or operate in a legal, ethical and responsible manner. While we monitor our suppliers’ adherence to our compliance and quality standards, there is no guarantee that we will be able to identify non-compliance. Moreover, the failure of our suppliers to adhere to applicable legal requirements and the quality standards that we set for our products could lead to government investigations, litigation, write-offs and recalls, any of which could damage our reputation and our brands, increase our costs, and otherwise hurt our business. Additionally, our ability to travel and monitor suppliers due to the COVID-19 pandemic could cause delays in bringing product to market.

Product liability claims could adversely affect our reputation, which could adversely affect our net sales and profitability.

We have faced and continue to face the risk of exposure to product liability claims in the event that the use of our products is alleged to have resulted in economic loss, personal injury, property damage, violated environmental or other laws. In the event that any of our products proves to be defective or otherwise in violation of applicable laws, we may be required to recall or redesign such products. Further, in such instances, we may be subject to legal action. We maintain insurance against some forms of product liability claims, but such coverage may not be available or adequate for the liabilities actually incurred. A successful claim brought against us in excess of available insurance coverage, or any claim or product recall that results in significant adverse publicity against us, may have a material adverse effect on our net sales and operating results.

16

Table of Contents

Our ability to offer hardwood flooring, particularly products made of certain species of hardwood, depends on the continued availability of sufficient suitable hardwood at reasonable cost.

Our business strategy depends on offering a wide assortment of hardwood flooring to our customers. We sell flooring made from species ranging from domestic maple, oak and pine to imported acacia, cherry, koa, mahogany and teak. Some of these species are difficult to source, and we cannot be assured of their continued availability. Our ability to obtain an adequate volume and quality of hard-to-find species depends on our suppliers’ ability to furnish those species, which, in turn, could be affected by many things including events such as forest fires, insect infestation, tree diseases, prolonged drought and other adverse weather and climate conditions. Government regulations relating to forest management practices also affect our suppliers’ ability to harvest or export timber, and changes to regulations and forest management policies, or the implementation of new laws or regulations, could impede their ability to do so. If our suppliers cannot deliver sufficient hardwood and we cannot find replacement suppliers, our net sales and operating results may be negatively impacted.

The cost of the various species of hardwood that are used in our products is important to our profitability. Hardwood lumber costs fluctuate as a result of a number of factors including changes in domestic and international supply and demand, labor costs, competition, market speculation, product availability, environmental restrictions, government regulation and trade policies, duties, weather conditions, processing and freight costs, and delivery delays and disruptions. We generally do not have long-term supply contracts or guaranteed purchase amounts. As a result, we may not be able to anticipate or react to changing hardwood costs by adjusting our purchasing practices, and we may not always be able to increase the selling prices of our products in response to increases in supply costs. If we cannot address changing hardwood costs appropriately, it could cause our operating results to deteriorate.

Risks Relating to Our Competitive Positioning

Ineffectiveness of our advertising strategy or negative perceptions of our brand could result in reduced customer traffic, thereby impacting net sales and profitability.

We believe that our growth thus far was achieved in part through our successful investment in local and national advertising. Historically, we have used extensive advertising to encourage customers to drive to our stores, which were, at times, located some distance from population centers in areas that have lower rents than traditional retail locations. Further, a significant portion of our advertising was directed at the DIY and installation customers. As our brand and marketing strategies continue to evolve, we have broadened the content of our advertising to increase the awareness of our great value, superior service and broad selection of high-quality, hard-surface flooring products. During 2021 we made significant progress in the transition of our brand from Lumber Liquidators to LL Flooring. If there are negative perceptions about the evolution of our brand strategies, our name change, or our advertisements fail to draw customers in the future, or if the cost of advertising or other marketing materials increases significantly, we could experience declines in our net sales and operating results both in-store and through our digital platform.

Competition could cause price declines, decrease demand for our products and decrease our market share.

We operate in the hard-surface flooring industry, which is highly fragmented and competitive. We face significant competition from national and regional home improvement chains, national and regional specialty flooring chains, Internet-based companies and privately owned single-site enterprises. We compete on the basis of price, customer service, store location and the range, quality and availability of the hard-surface flooring that we offer our customers. If our positioning with regard to one or more of these factors should erode, deteriorate, fail to resonate with consumers or misalign with demand or expectations, our business and results may be negatively impacted.

Our competitive position is also influenced by the availability, quality and cost of merchandise, labor costs, distribution and sales efficiencies and our productivity compared to that of our competitors. Further, as we expand into new and unfamiliar markets, we may face different competitive environments than in the past. Likewise, as we continue to enhance and develop our product offerings, we may experience new competitive conditions.

17

Table of Contents

Some of our competitors are larger organizations, have existed longer, are more diversified in the products they offer and have a more established market presence with substantially greater financial, marketing, personnel and other resources than we have. In addition, our competitors may forecast market developments more accurately than we do, develop products that are superior to ours, produce similar products at a lower cost or adapt more quickly to new technologies or evolving customer requirements than we do. Intense competitive pressures from one or more of our competitors could cause price declines, decrease demand for our products and decrease our market share.

Hard-surface flooring may become less popular as compared to other types of floor coverings in the future. For example, our products are made using various hardwood species, and concern over the environmental impact of tree harvesting could shift consumer preferences towards synthetic or inorganic flooring. In addition, hardwood flooring competes against carpet, vinyl sheet, vinyl tile, ceramic tile, natural stone and other types of floor coverings. If consumer preferences shift toward types of floor coverings that we do not sell, we may experience decreased demand for our products.

All of these competitive factors may harm us and reduce our net sales and operating results.

Risks Related to Economic Factors and Our Access to Capital

Cyclicality in the home flooring industry, coupled with our lack of diversity in our lines of business, could cause volatility and risk to our business.

The hard-surface flooring industry is highly dependent on the remodeling of existing homes and new home construction. Remodeling and new home construction are cyclical and depend on a number of factors which are beyond our control, including interest and inflation rates, tax policy, real estate prices, employment levels, consumer confidence, credit availability, demographic trends, weather conditions, natural disasters and general economic conditions.

In the event of a decrease in discretionary spending, home remodeling activity or new home construction, demand for our products, including hard-surface flooring, could be impacted negatively and our business and operating results could be harmed.

The inability to access our Revolving Credit Facility or other sources of capital, could cause our financial position, liquidity, and results of operations to suffer.

We have relied on and expect to continue to rely on a bank credit agreement to fund our needs for working capital. During 2021, we entered into a Second Amendment to our Credit Agreement. The execution of the Second Amendment, among other things, terminated the FILO Term Loans and converted those commitments to the Revolving Credit Facility. The total size of the Credit Agreement remained at $200 million, and the Company has an option to the increase the Revolving Credit Facility to a maximum total amount of $250 million. The maturity date of the Credit Agreement was extended to April 30, 2026. Our access to the Revolving Credit Facility depends on our ability to meet the conditions for borrowing, including that all representations are true and correct at the time of the borrowing. Our failure to meet these requirements or obtain additional or alternative sources of capital could impact:

​

18

Table of Contents

Risks Related to Our Information Technology

If our management information systems, including our digital platform or our Customer Relationship Center, experience disruptions, it could disrupt our business and reduce our net sales.

We depend on our management information systems to integrate the activities of our stores, digital platform and Customer Relationship Center, to process orders, make outgoing calls to customers, to respond to customer inquiries, to manage inventory, to purchase merchandise and to sell and ship goods on a timely basis. We may experience operational problems with our information systems as a result of system failures, viruses, computer “hackers” or other causes. We may incur significant expenses in order to repair any such operational problems. Any significant disruption or slowdown of our systems could cause information, including data related to customer orders, to be lost or delayed, which could result in delays in the delivery of products to our stores and customers or lost sales. For example, as we previously disclosed in August 2019, we experienced a malicious network security incident during that year for approximately a week that prevented access to several of our information technology systems and data within our networks. Based on the nature of the network security incident, the impact on our information technology systems and the results of the forensic IT analysis, we do not believe confidential customer, employee or company data was lost or disclosed. Moreover, our entire corporate network, including our telephone lines, is on an Internet-based network, which is vulnerable to certain risks and uncertainties, including changes in the required technology interfaces, digital platform downtime and other technical failures, security breaches and customer privacy concerns. Accordingly, if our network is disrupted or if we cannot successfully maintain our digital platform and Customer Relationship Center in good working order, we may experience delayed communications within our operations and between our customers and ourselves, and may not be able to communicate at all via our network, including via telephones connected to our network.

We may incur costs and losses resulting from security risks we face in connection with our electronic processing, transmission and storage of confidential customer information.

We accept electronic payment cards for payment in our stores and through our Customer Relationship Center. In addition, our online operations depend upon the secure transmission of confidential information over public networks, including information permitting cashless payments. As a result, we may become subject to claims for purportedly fraudulent transactions arising out of the actual or alleged theft of credit or debit card information, and we may also be subject to lawsuits or other proceedings relating to these types of incidents. Further, a compromise of our security systems that results in our customers’ personal information being obtained by unauthorized persons could adversely affect our reputation with our customers and others, as well as our operations, results of operations and financial condition, and could result in litigation against us or the imposition of penalties. A security breach could also require that we expend significant additional resources related to the security of information systems and could result in a disruption of our operations, particularly our online sales operations.

Additionally, privacy and information security laws and regulations change, and compliance with them may result in cost increases due to necessary systems changes and the development of new administrative processes. If we fail to comply with these laws and regulations or experience a data security breach, our reputation could be damaged, possibly resulting in lost future business, and we could be subjected to additional legal risk as a result of non-compliance.

Alternative e-commerce and online shopping offerings may erode our customer base and adversely affect our business.

Our long-term future depends heavily upon the general public’s willingness to use our stores as a means to purchase goods. In recent years, e-commerce has become more widely accepted as a means of purchasing consumer goods and services, which could adversely impact customer traffic in our stores. Additionally, certain of our competitors offer alternative e-commerce and online shopping. If consumers use alternative e-commerce and online shopping offerings to conduct business as opposed to our store locations, it could materially adversely impact our net sales and operating results.

19

Table of Contents

Risks Relating to Our Common Stock

Our common stock price may be volatile and all or part of any investment in our common stock may be lost.

The market price of our common stock could fluctuate significantly based on various factors, including, but not limited to:

In addition, the stock market may experience significant price and volume fluctuations. These fluctuations may be unrelated to the operating performance of particular companies but may cause declines in the market price of our common stock. The price of our common stock could fluctuate based upon factors that have little or nothing to do with us or our performance.

Our anti-takeover defense provisions may cause our common stock to trade at market prices lower than it might absent such provisions.

Our certificate of incorporation and bylaws contain provisions that may make it more difficult or expensive for a third party to acquire control of us without the approval of our board of directors. These provisions include a staggered board, the availability of “blank check” preferred stock, provisions restricting stockholders from calling a special meeting of stockholders or from taking action by written consent and provisions that set forth advance notice procedures for stockholders’ nominations of directors and proposals of topics for consideration at meetings of stockholders. Our certificate of incorporation also provides that Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law, which relates to business combinations with interested stockholders, applies to us. These provisions may delay, prevent or deter a merger, or other transaction that might otherwise result in our stockholders receiving a premium over the market price for their common stock. In addition, these provisions may cause our common stock to trade at a market price lower than it might absent such provisions.

​

Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments.

None.

​

20

Table of Contents

Item 2. Properties.

As of February 18, 2022, we operated 428 stores located in 47 states, with four new stores opening since December 31, 2021. The table below sets forth the locations (alphabetically by state) of our 428 stores in operation as of February 18, 2022.

​

We lease all of our stores as well as our corporate headquarters, which is located in Richmond, Virginia. The corporate headquarters location is approximately 53,000 square feet. We currently lease space near the headquarters location as a satellite office for various administrative functions.

In addition, we own a one million square foot distribution center on approximately 100 acres of land in Henrico County, Virginia, near Richmond. We lease a 504,016 square foot facility in Pomona, California, which, along with our facility in Virginia, serve as our primary distribution facilities.

​

Item 3. Legal Proceedings.

Information with respect to this item may be found in Note 10, “Commitments and Contingencies”, to the consolidated financial statements in Item 8 of Part II, which is incorporated herein by reference.

​

Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures.

None.

​

PART II

Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities.

Market Information

Our common stock trades on the New York Stock Exchange (“NYSE”) under the trading symbol “LL.” We are authorized to issue up to 35,000,000 shares of common stock, par value $0.001. Total shares of common stock outstanding at February 18, 2022 were 29,140,469 and we had four stockholders of record. In February 2022, we increased our share repurchase program authorization to $50 million.

​

21

Table of Contents

Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities

The following table presents our share repurchase activity for the quarter ended December 31, 2021 (dollars in thousands, except per share amounts):

¹      We repurchased 15,063 shares of our common stock, at an average price of $17.20, in connection with the net settlement of shares issued as a result of the vesting of restricted shares during the quarter ended December 31, 2021.

Dividend Policy

​

We have never paid any dividends on our common stock and do not expect to pay them in the near future.

​

Securities Authorized for Issuance under Equity Compensation Plans

See Item 12. “Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters” for information regarding securities authorized for issuance under our equity compensation plans.

Performance Graph

The following graph compares the performance of our common stock during the period beginning December 31, 2016 through December 31, 2021, to that of the total return index for the NYSE Composite and a Custom Peer Group whose members are listed below assuming an investment of $100 on December 31, 2016. In calculating total annual stockholder return, reinvestment of dividends, if any, is assumed. The indices are included for comparative

22

Table of Contents

purpose only. They do not necessarily reflect management’s opinion that such indices are an appropriate measure of the relative performance of our common stock.

¹      The Peer Group consists of industry competitors and other retailers of a similar size to the Company. They include: The Home Depot, Inc., Lowe’s Companies, Inc., Floor & Décor Holdings, Inc., Tile Shop Holdings, Inc., The Sherwin-Williams Company, Pier 1 Imports, Inc., Vitamin Shoppe, Inc., Hibbett Sports, Inc. and Haverty Furniture Companies, Inc. Pier 1 Imports, Inc. was de-listed by the Securities and Exchange Commission in March 2020, and is therefore only included within the peer group data above through December 31, 2019.

​

23

Table of Contents

Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.

Overview

LL Flooring is one of North America’s leading specialty retailers of hard-surface flooring, with 424 stores as of December 31, 2021. Our Company seeks to offer the best customer experience online and in stores, with more than 500 varieties of hard-surface floors featuring a range of quality styles and on-trend designs. Our online tools also help empower customers to find the right solution for the space they’ve envisioned. Our extensive selection includes waterproof vinyl plank, solid and engineered hardwood, laminate, bamboo, porcelain tile, and cork, with a wide range of flooring enhancements and accessories to complement. Our stores are staffed with flooring experts who provide advice, Pro partnership services, and installation options for all of our products, most of which is in stock and ready for delivery. Our vision is to be the customer’s first choice in hard-surface flooring by providing the best experience, from start to finish. We offer a wide selection of high-quality, stocked products and the accessible flooring expertise and service of a local store, with the scale, omni-channel convenience and value of a national chain. We plan to leverage this advantage to differentiate ourselves in the highly fragmented flooring market. We launched our new digital platform, LLFlooring.com, in December 2020. In February 2021, we launched our new mobile app featuring our popular Picture It! and Floor Finder tools and making it easy to order installations.

​

To supplement the financial measures prepared in accordance with GAAP, we use the following non-GAAP financial measures: (i) Adjusted Gross Profit; (ii) Adjusted Gross Margin; (iii) Adjusted SG&A; (iv) Adjusted SG&A as a percentage of net sales; (v) Adjusted Operating Income; (vi) Adjusted Operating Margin; (vii) Adjusted Other Expense; (viii) Adjusted Other Expense as a percentage of net sales; (ix) Adjusted Earnings; and (x) Adjusted Earnings per Diluted Share. The non-GAAP financial measures should be viewed in addition to, and not in lieu of, financial measures calculated in accordance with GAAP. These supplemental measures may vary from, and may not be comparable to, similarly titled measures by other companies.

​

The non-GAAP financial measures are presented because management and analysts use these non-GAAP financial measures to evaluate our operating performance and management, in certain cases, uses them to determine incentive compensation and/or to address questions it receives. Therefore, we believe that the presentation of non-GAAP financial measures provides useful supplementary information to, and facilitates additional analysis by, investors. The presented non-GAAP financial measures exclude items that management does not believe reflect our core operating performance, which include regulatory and legal settlements and associated legal and operating costs, changes in antidumping and countervailing duties, and store closures, as such items are outside of our control or due to their inherent unusual, non-operating, unpredictable, non-recurring, or non-cash nature.

​

Executive Summary

​

In 2021, we delivered record sales to Pro customers and record net services sales.  We also launched new, innovative products and deployed effective pricing and promotion strategies.  Our annual comparable store sales grew 5.2% and we recorded net income of $42 million in 2021 despite the headwinds of world-wide macroeconomic uncertainty, supply chain turbulence, labor shortages, inflation (price, product, and wage) and the continued impact of COVID-19.   

​

Highlights for the year ended December 31, 2021 were as follows:

​

24

Table of Contents

​

​

​

​

​

Adjusted Earnings Per Diluted Share (a non-GAAP measure) decreased to $1.39 compared to $2.25 for 2020. The change was primarily due to the absence of the valuation allowance noted above.

​

Other Items

​

Liquidity, Working Capital and Credit Agreement

​

As of December 31, 2021, we had liquidity of $227 million, consisting of excess availability under our Credit Agreement of $142 million, and cash and cash equivalents of $85 million. This represents an increase in liquidity of $13 million from December 31, 2020. We repaid all $101 million of our outstanding debt in the second quarter of 2021 and did not access borrowings under the Credit Agreement during the year.

​

We believe that cash flows from operations, together with cash on hand, and the availability under our Credit Agreement will be sufficient to meet our obligations, operations, anticipated capital expenditures, and fund our settlements for the next 12 months. In the coming quarters we also plan to increase our inventories as supply chain disruptions abate. We prepare our forecasted cash flow and liquidity estimates based on assumptions that we believe to be reasonable but are also inherently uncertain. Actual future cash flows could differ from these estimates.

​

Impact of Macroeconomic Environment

​

We continue to navigate uncertainty in the macroeconomic environment related to global supply chain disruptions, consumer spending, inflation and a challenging labor market. During the second quarter of 2020 we limited our inventory purchases as a direct result COVID-19. Supply chain disruption on replenishment kept inventory below our targeted level during the second half of 2020 and 2021. As a result, we believe we could have captured more sales in

25

Table of Contents

the fourth quarter of 2020 and 2021 if our inventories had been higher. While our supply chain teams continue to work diligently to bring in new inventory and allocate it effectively across our stores, we anticipate the supply chain to remain constrained well into 2022, limiting inventory availability and increasing transportation and material costs. Supply chain constraints include international container access, congestion in major ports, and a shortage of domestic truckers, as well as renewed COVID-19 related shutdowns. We are also monitoring the impact of inflation on consumer purchasing trends as it could affect our prices, demand for our products, our sales and our profit margins.

​

Section 301 Tariffs

​

The Company’s financial statements have been impacted by Section 301 tariffs on certain products imported from China in recent years. A subset of these imports for certain click vinyl and other engineered products (the “Subset Products”) received an exemption that was made retroactive to the beginning of the Section 301 Tariffs for a period of time but were reinstated in August 2020. The tariffs flow through the income statement as the product is sold. The Company has deployed strategies to mitigate tariffs and improve gross margin, primarily through adjusting its pricing and promotion strategies and alternative country sourcing. The following chart provides a timeline of tariff levels for the key events related to Section 301 Tariffs.

​

​

​

Canadian and US Store Closure Costs

​

During the third quarter of 2020, the Company conducted a comprehensive review of its real estate portfolio. Following the conclusion of this review, the Company made the decision to close its Canadian operations, including all eight stores in Canada, and six underperforming US locations by the end of 2020. The Company will continue to monitor store performance on an ongoing basis. The Company incurred expense of $3.8 million to close these stores in the second half of 2020. All 14 stores were closed by year end although certain clean-up activities were fully completed early in 2021.

​

​

26

Table of Contents

Results of Operations

We believe the selected sales data, the percentage relationship between Net Sales and major categories in the Consolidated Statements of Income and the percentage change in the dollar amounts of each of the items presented below are important in evaluating the performance of our business operations.

​

A detailed discussion of the 2021 year-over-year changes can be found below and should be read in conjunction with the Consolidated Financial Statements and the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements presented in this report. A detailed discussion of the 2020 year-over-year changes can be found in “Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in the Form 10-K filed on March 1, 2021.

Net Sales

Net sales increased $55 million, or 5%, to $1,152 million in 2021 from $1,098 million in 2020 and comparable store net sales increased 5.2%. Average Retail Price per Unit Sold increased 8.2% as the Company reacted to the impact of inflation on costs from its vendors and supply chain disruptions along with a change in mix. Average ticket increased 16.7% driven by sales to Pro customers and higher attachment of installation and freight, partially offset by a 11.5% decrease in transaction count driven by lower DIY sales. The lower DIY sales in 2021 were impacted by weaker year-over-year COVID nesting sales and less-than-optimal inventories. Net merchandise sales increased 2% driven by double-digit sales growth to Pro customers and net services sales (install and freight) increased 29% year-over-year.

27

Table of Contents

Both Pro and net services sales benefited from multiple initiatives launched specifically for these customers, including investments in technology to streamline our installation services. The Company opened 14 net stores in 2021 and operated 424 stores as of December 31, 2021.

​

Gross Profit

Gross profit of $440 million in 2021 increased $12 million from 2020 and gross margin in 2021 decreased to 38.2% from 39% in 2020. Both years were impacted by the net of anti-dumping and countervailing duty rate changes, with favorable adjustments of $6.3 million and $2.2 million in 2021 and 2020, respectively. Additionally, 2020 included costs related to Canadian and US store closures. When excluding those items in the table that follows, Adjusted Gross Profit (a non-GAAP measure) of $434 million in 2021 increased $8 million versus 2020 and Adjusted Gross Margin (a non-GAAP measure) in 2021 decreased to 37.6% from 38.8% in 2020. The 120-basis point decrease in Adjusted Gross Margin was due primarily to significantly higher transportation, tariff and material costs (collectively up more than 500 basis points) that the Company was able to partially mitigate through pricing, promotion and alternative country/vendor sourcing strategies.

​

We believe that the following items set forth in the table below can distort the visibility of our ongoing

performance and that the evaluation of our financial performance can be enhanced by use of supplemental presentation of our results that exclude the impact of these items.

​

Selling, General and Administrative Expenses

SG&A expenses of $387 million in 2021 increased $16 million from 2020, and as a percentage of net sales, SG&A decreased to 33.6% in 2021, compared to 33.8% in 2020. SG&A in both periods included certain costs related to legal matters and settlements. Additionally, the 2020 period included costs related to Canadian and U.S. store closures. When excluding items in the table that follows, Adjusted SG&A (a non-GAAP measure) of $380 million in 2021 increased $17 million from 2020. Adjusted SG&A as a percentage of sales of 33.0% was flat compared to last year, primarily due to increased investment in customer facing and distribution personnel that was offset by higher net sales. 2020 benefited the final settlement of the business interruption insurance claim related to the August 2019 network security incident ($2.5 million) and lower travel and entertainment expense. The Company redeemed $4.5 million of MDL and Gold vouchers during 2021 and relieved the accrual for legal matters and settlements for the full amount, relieved inventory at its cost, and the remaining amount -- the gross margin for the items sold of $1.7 million was recorded as a reduction in SG&A expense.

​

We believe that the following items set forth in the table below can distort the visibility of our ongoing

28

Table of Contents

performance and that the evaluation of our financial performance can be enhanced by use of supplemental presentation of our results that exclude the impact of these items.

​

​

Operating Income and Operating Margin

​

Operating income was $53 million in 2021, compared to operating income of $56 million in 2020. When excluding items in the table that follows, Adjusted Operating Income (a non-GAAP measure) was $54 million and Adjusted Operating Margin (a non-GAAP measure) was 4.7% in 2021, a decrease of 110 basis points compared to last year. The primary driver of the decrease in Adjusted Operating Margin was the decline in adjusted gross margin described above.

​

We believe that the following items set forth in the table below can distort the visibility of our ongoing

performance and that the evaluation of our financial performance can be enhanced by use of supplemental presentation of our results that exclude the impact of these items.

​

^1,2,3,4,5,6  See the Gross Profit and SG&A sections above for more detailed explanations of these individual items.

​

​

​

29

Table of Contents

Other (Income) Expense

​

The Company had other income of $0.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to other expense of $2.6 million for the year ended December 31, 2020. Both years were favorably impacted by the reversal of interest expense associated with anti-dumping and countervailing duty rate changes. Excluding these items as shown on the table that follows, Adjusted Other Expense (a non-GAAP measure) was $1.7 million in 2021, which is a decrease of $2.2 million compared to 2020 driven by the repayment of all outstanding debt during the second quarter of 2021 and lower interest rates on our Credit Agreement due to the amendment in April 2021.

​

Provision for Income Taxes

​

The Company records tax expense each period for income taxes incurred for US federal tax, in certain states, and in foreign jurisdictions resulting in an effective tax rate of 21% and (14.5)% for the years ended December 31, 2021 and 2020, respectively. 2020 benefited from the partial release of $20 million of valuation allowance on deferred tax assets.

At the beginning of 2020, the Company had a full valuation allowance of $27 million recorded against its net deferred assets as the Company was in a consolidated cumulative three-year loss position, and the Company was not relying upon projections of future taxable income in assessing their recoverability.  The Company assesses the available evidence on a quarterly basis to determine if, based on the weight of all available evidence, it is more likely than not that some portion, or all, of the deferred tax assets will not be realized.  The Company was no longer in a consolidated cumulative three-year loss position at December 31, 2020.  Based on the Company’s evaluation at a jurisdictional level as of December 31, 2020, the Company released valuation allowances of $20 million in the fourth quarter of 2020 in jurisdictions where the Company believed sufficient future taxable income, including consideration of future performance, market or economic conditions, will be generated to use existing deferred tax assets.  This release of the valuation allowance resulted in noncash income tax benefit in the fourth quarter of 2020 of $20 million. At December 31, 2021 and 2020 the Company’s remaining valuation allowance was $2.4 and $5.6 million, respectively. The amount of the deferred tax assets considered realizable could be adjusted in future periods if evidence warrants such a change. During 2021, the Company recognized additional state net operating losses expected to be utilized, which are reflected in the ending deferred tax assets and resulted in a reduction of tax expense of approximately $2.4 million.

​

On March 27, 2020, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES Act) was enacted in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The CARES Act, among other things, permits NOL carryovers and carrybacks to offset 100% of taxable income for taxable years beginning before 2021. In addition, the CARES Act allows NOLs incurred in 2018, 2019, and 2020 to be carried back to each of the five preceding taxable years to generate a refund of previously paid income taxes. The Company amended its 2018 tax return with respect to CARES Act items and carried the 2018 NOL back to 2013 resulting in a net tax benefit of $1.8 million in 2020.

The Company files income tax returns with the United States federal government and various state and foreign jurisdictions. In the normal course of business, the Company is subject to examination by taxing authorities. The Internal Revenue Service has completed audits of our income tax returns through 2016.

​

30

Table of Contents

Diluted Earnings per Share

Net income was $42 million, or $1.41 per diluted share, in 2021 compared to net income of $61 million, or $2.10 per diluted share, in 2020. 2021 Adjusted Earnings Per Diluted Share (a non-GAAP measure) decreased $0.86 per diluted share to $1.39 compared to $2.25 for 2020. Net income in 2020 benefited from the noncash income tax benefit of $20 million from the partial release of the valuation allowance.

​

We believe that each of the items below can distort the visibility of our ongoing performance and that the evaluation of our financial performance can be enhanced by use of supplemental presentation of our results that exclude the impact of these items.

​

^{1,2,3,4,5,6,7}  See the Gross Profit and SG&A and Other (Income) Expense sections above for more detailed explanations of these individual items. These items have been tax affected at the Company’s federal incremental rate of 26.3% for 2021 and 26.1% for 2020.

​

​

Liquidity, Capital Resources and Cash Flows

Our strong balance sheet and liquidity provide us with the financial flexibility to fund our growth initiatives and position LL Flooring for long-term success. We had cash and cash equivalents of $85 million as of December 31, 2021 even after repaying all $101 million of our outstanding debt during the second quarter of 2021.

Our principal sources of liquidity at December 31, 2021, were cash from our ongoing operations, $85 million of cash and cash equivalents on our balance sheet and $142 million of availability under our Revolving Loan. As of December 31, 2021, there was no outstanding balance on our Revolving Loan.

​

On April 30, 2021, we entered into a Second Amendment to the Credit Agreement to extend the maturity date to April 30, 2026, convert the FILO Term Loan into the Revolving Credit Facility, decrease the margin for LIBOR Rate Loans, and reduce the LIBOR floor, which is described more fully in Item 8. Note 4 to the consolidated financial statements.

​

31

Table of Contents

Our cash flows from operating activities were $39 million during 2021 which was primarily the result of our net income during the period of $42 million, accruals for legal matters and settlements of $7.8 million, and growth in customer deposits of $5.7 million, partially offset by an increase in inventory of $15 million and decreased accounts payable of $8.5 million.

​

Net cash provided by operating activities was $157 million in 2020 and was primarily due to $61 million in net income, a $39 million decrease in inventory, cash received from United States Customs for tariff receivables of $23 million, growth in customer deposits of $20 million and an increase in accounts payable of $9.9 million. These items were somewhat offset by payments for legal matters and settlements of $18 million.

​

Net cash flows used in investing activities in 2021 included $19 million in capital expenditures, primarily for opening 14 net new stores and store rebranding. We also plan to invest in capital expenditure in the range of $28 million to $32 million in 2022 to support our growth strategies, such as new store openings and to complete our store rebranding, as well as to increase operational efficiency.

​

Net cash used in investing activities was $15 million in 2020 and included investments in our new digital platform, LLFlooring.com, six new stores, and maintenance to our existing stores.

​

2021 net cash used in financing activities was $104 million, compared to $19 million provided by financing activities in 2020. The activity in the current year was primarily due to the repayment of all our outstanding debt under the Credit Agreement of $101 million in the second quarter of 2021. Net cash provided by the comparable 2020 period was primarily attributable to $19 million in net borrowings on the Credit Agreement.

​

We expect free cash flow to turn negative in 2022 as a result of rebuilding inventory and investing in growth.

​

Merchandise Inventories

Merchandise inventory is our most significant asset and is considered either “available for sale” or “inbound in-transit,” based on whether we have physically received and inspected the products at an individual store location, in our distribution centers or in another facility where we control and monitor inspection.

​

Merchandise inventories and available inventory per store in operation on December 31, 2021 and 2020 were as follows:

​

Available inventory per store at December 31, 2021 was lower than available inventory per store at December 31, 2020. The 7% reduction in total inventory from last year was primarily driven by supply chain constraints on replenishment. We plan to return to more historic levels of merchandise inventory in 2022. Our teams are working diligently to receive new inventory in the face of supply chain constraints and we are working toward rebuilding inventory by $50 to $70 million by end of 2022.

Credit Agreement

Information with respect to this item may be found in Note 4, “Credit Agreement”, to the consolidated financial statements in Item 8 of Part II, which is incorporated herein by reference.

32

Table of Contents

​

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements

We do not have any off-balance sheet arrangements or other financing activities with special-purpose entities.

Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates

Critical accounting policies are those that we believe are both significant and that require us to make difficult, subjective or complex judgments, often because we need to estimate the effect of inherently uncertain matters. We base our estimates and judgments on historical experiences and various other factors that we believe to be appropriate under the circumstances. Actual results may differ from these estimates, and we might obtain different estimates if we used different assumptions or conditions. We believe the following critical accounting policies affect our more significant judgments and estimates used in the preparation of our financial statements.

Loss Contingencies

We are involved in various lawsuits, claims, investigations, and proceedings. Certain of these matters include speculative claims for substantial or indeterminate amounts of damages. We record a liability when we believe that it is both probable that a loss has been incurred and the amount can be reasonably estimated. If we determine that a loss is reasonably possible and a loss or range of the loss can be estimated, we disclose such amounts. Significant judgment is required to determine both probability and the estimated amount of any loss or range of loss. We assess each legal matter and any related provisions at least quarterly and adjust them accordingly to reflect the impact of negotiations, settlements, rulings, advice of legal counsel, and updated information.

Until a final resolution related to loss contingencies for legal and other contingencies is reached, there may be an exposure to loss in excess of the amount we have recorded, and such amounts could be material, either individually or in the aggregate, to our business, consolidated financial position, results of operations, or cash flows. Therefore, if one or more of these matters were resolved against us for amounts in excess of management’s expectations, our results of operations and financial condition, including in a particular reporting period, could be materially adversely affected.

Recognition of Net Sales

We recognize net sales for products purchased at the time the customer takes possession of the merchandise. We recognize service revenue, which consists primarily of installation revenue and freight charges for in-home delivery, when the service has been rendered. We report sales exclusive of sales taxes collected from customers and remitted to governmental taxing authorities. Net sales are reduced by an allowance for anticipated sales returns that we estimate based on historical and current sales trends and experience. We believe that our estimate for sales returns is an accurate reflection of future returns. Any reasonably likely changes that may occur in the assumptions underlying our allowance estimates would not be expected to have a material impact on our financial condition or operating performance. Actual sales returns did not vary materially from estimated amounts for 2021, 2020 or 2019.

In addition, customers who do not take immediate delivery of their purchases are generally required to pay a deposit, equal to approximately half of the retail sales value, with the balance payable when the customer takes possession of the merchandise. These customer deposits benefit our cash flow and return on investment capital, because we receive partial payment for our customers’ purchases immediately. We record these deposits as a liability on our balance sheet in Customer Deposits and Store Credits until the customer takes possession of the merchandise.

Leases

The Company determines if an arrangement is a lease at inception. If the arrangement is a lease, the Company accounts for the transaction in accordance with FASB ASC Topic 842, Leases (“ASC 842”). Operating leases are included in operating lease right-of-use (“ROU”) assets and operating lease liabilities on the consolidated balance sheet. The operating lease ROU asset also is adjusted for any lease payments made and excludes lease incentives and initial direct costs incurred. The Company’s lease terms may include options to extend or terminate the lease at certain dates, typically at the Company’s own discretion. The Company regularly evaluates the renewal options and when they are

33

Table of Contents

reasonably certain of exercise, the Company includes the renewal period in its lease term. Many of the Company’s leases include both lease (e.g., payments including rent, taxes, and insurance costs) and non-lease components (e.g., common-area or other maintenance costs) which are accounted for as a single lease component as the Company has elected the practical expedient to group lease and non-lease components for all leases. Lease expense for minimum lease payments is recognized on a straight-line basis over the term of the agreement. The Company made an accounting policy election that payments under agreements with an initial term of 12 months or less will not be included on the consolidated balance sheet but will be recognized in the consolidated statements of operations on a straight-line basis over the term of the agreement.

The operating lease ROU assets and operating lease liabilities are recognized as the present value of the future minimum lease payments over the lease term at commencement date. As most of the leases do not provide an implicit rate, the Company uses its incremental borrowing rate based on the information available at commencement date in determining the present value of future payments. The incremental borrowing rate is estimated based on U.S. Composite yields obtained from Bloomberg based on a third-party’s estimate of the Company’s credit rating. The determination of an appropriate secured incremental borrowing rate requires judgments in selecting an appropriate yield curve and estimating adjustments for collateralization and inflation. Based on the volume of new store leases that the Company enters into each year, a significant increase or decrease in the incremental borrowing rates used to discount lease payments could have a significant impact on the value of operating lease liabilities and right-of-use assets subsequently reported on its consolidated balance sheet.

​

Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk.

Interest Rate Risk

We are exposed to interest rate risk through the investment of our cash and cash equivalents and our Credit Agreement. We may invest our cash in short-term investments with maturities of three months or less. Changes in interest rates affect the interest income we earn, and therefore impact our cash flows and results of operations. Borrowings under our Credit Agreement are exposed to interest rate risk due to the variable rate of the borrowings. The Company’s incremental borrowing rate for $1 million as of December 31, 2021 was 1.5% so the incremental interest cost on that million, if outstanding for the full year, would have been $15 thousand.

​

We currently do not engage in any interest rate hedging activity and have no current intention to do so. However, in the future, in an effort to mitigate losses associated with these risks, we may at times enter into derivative financial instruments, although we have not historically done so. We do not, and do not intend to, engage in the practice of trading derivative securities for profit.

​

Exchange Rate Risk

Less than two percent of our revenue, expense and capital purchasing activities are transacted in currencies other than the United States dollar, including the Euro, Canadian dollar, Chinese yuan and Brazilian real.

We currently do not engage in any exchange rate hedging activity as the vast majority of our foreign purchases are denominated in United States dollars. However, in the future, in an effort to mitigate losses associated with these risks, we may at times engage in transactions involving various derivative instruments to hedge revenues, inventory purchases, assets and liabilities denominated in foreign currencies. As discussed in Item 8. Note 11 to the consolidated financial statements, we closed all our stores in Canada in December 2020.

​

34

Table of Contents

Item 8. Consolidated Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.

​

​

35

Table of Contents

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

​

To the Shareholders and the Board of Directors of LL Flooring Holdings, Inc.

Opinion on the Financial Statements

We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of LL Flooring Holdings, Inc. (the Company) as of December 31, 2021 and 2020, the related consolidated statements of income, comprehensive income (loss), stockholders’ equity and cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2021, and the related notes and Financial Statement Schedule listed in the Index at Item 15(a) (collectively referred to as the “consolidated financial statements”). In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company at December 31, 2021 and 2020, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2021, in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles.

We also have audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB), the Company's internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2021, based on criteria established in Internal Control-Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (2013 framework), and our report dated February 22, 2022 expressed an unqualified opinion thereon.

Basis for Opinion

These financial statements are the responsibility of the Company's management. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s financial statements based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the PCAOB and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud. Our audits included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the financial statements. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinion.

Critical Audit Matter

The critical audit matter communicated below is a matter arising from the current period audit of the financial statements that was communicated or required to be communicated to the audit committee and that: (1) relates to accounts or disclosures that are material to the financial statements and (2) involved our especially challenging, subjective or complex judgments. The communication of the critical audit matter does not alter in any way our opinion on the consolidated financial statements, taken as a whole, and we are not, by communicating the critical audit matter below, providing a separate opinion on the critical audit matter or on the accounts or disclosures to which it relates.

36

Table of Contents

37

Table of Contents

​

/s/ Ernst & Young LLP

We have served as the Company’s auditor since 2003.

Richmond, Virginia
February 22, 2022

​

38

Table of Contents

​

Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

To the Shareholders and the Board of Directors of LL Flooring Holdings, Inc.

Opinion on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

We have audited LL Flooring Holdings, Inc.’s internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2021, based on criteria established in Internal Control—Integrated Framework issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (2013 framework) (the COSO criteria). In our opinion, LL Flooring Holdings, Inc. (the Company) maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2021, based on the COSO criteria.

We also have audited, in accordance with the standards of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB), the 2021 consolidated financial statements of the Company and our report dated February 22, 2022 expressed an unqualified opinion thereon.

Basis for Opinion

The Company’s management is responsible for maintaining effective internal control over financial reporting and for its assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting included in the accompanying Management’s Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting. Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the Company’s internal control over financial reporting based on our audit. We are a public accounting firm registered with the PCAOB and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audit in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable assurance about whether effective internal control over financial reporting was maintained in all material respects.

Our audit included obtaining an understanding of internal control over financial reporting, assessing the risk that a material weakness exists, testing and evaluating the design and operating effectiveness of internal control based on the assessed risk, and performing such other procedures as we considered necessary in the circumstances. We believe that our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinion.

Definition and Limitations of Internal Control Over Financial Reporting

A company’s internal control over financial reporting is a process designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. A company’s internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that (1) pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the company; (2) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and that receipts and expenditures of the company are being made only in accordance with authorizations of management and directors of the company; and (3) provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely

39

Table of Contents

detection of unauthorized acquisition, use, or disposition of the company’s assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.

Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.

/s/ Ernst & Young LLP

Richmond, Virginia
February 22, 2022

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

40

Table of Contents

LL Flooring Holdings, Inc.

Consolidated Balance Sheets

(in thousands)

​

See accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements.

​

41

Table of Contents

LL Flooring Holdings, Inc.

Consolidated Statements of Income

(in thousands except per share amounts)