LAKE PLACID — Hackett’s Store brand is emerging from debt with a plan.

The Tupper Lake store will stay open, but the idea to add a store in Lake Placid will take a back seat to new stores eyed for Queensbury and Plattsburgh.

And new operations are about to turn the tide against nearly forced bankruptcy.

PAYING DEBT

Newly hired Chief Operations Officer Herbert Becker said the last $1 million of almost $5 million owed to Wells Fargo, the company’s bank, will be paid off in a week.

An involuntary bankruptcy claim brought by six name-brand creditors — then dismissed — has an asterisk, Becker said, allowing the department-store chain to continue to buy merchandise on a payment plan.

Hackett’s stores throughout the North Country have been closing since March. One by one, the company has pulled out of Canton, Gouverneur, Potsdam, Watertown and Massena.

Holding the tremulous line, Becker said, the store in Potsdam may be spared, looking toward a sustainable future.

No more stores will close, he said.

“This is happening because all of the stores have aggressively worked toward it.

“In order to survive, we need to be able to control our own destiny.”

YARD SALE

Inventory liquidation is under way.