After losing $58.6 million in the fiscal year ending Feb. 28, the nation’s largest furniture retailer, financially beleaguered Heilig-Meyers Co., has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The retailer said it would close 302 of its 873 outlets — including its store on Wheaton Way in Bremerton.

Heilig-Meyers built one of the country’s largest retail empires by locating on Main Streets in small towns and extending credit to lower-income customers.

The Chapter 11 filing wasn’t unexpected, and is anticipated to cost an estimated 4,400 people their jobs nationwide. Company officials did not say when the local Heilig-Meyers Bremerton outlet would close its doors, and local management referred questions to corporate headquarters, but repeated calls there remain unreturned.

In early September, the company hired an investment banking firm to explore options including bankruptcy or a possible sale. At the same time, the Richmond-based company revealed it had been granted a 30-day extension by its lenders on debt payments it failed to make.

While sales have been declining for more than a year, much of its traditional customer base has been targeted by high-interest credit card companies and home equity lenders. This led customers to whom the company extended credit into financial trouble, causing defaults and seriously eroding one of the company’s main revenue streams. The firm has also lost a number of its top executives in recent months, including former chief executive William C. DeRusha, who is owed $8.3 million in severance and future retirement benefits after being forced to resign last month.

The company has arranged for $215 million in interim financing, subject to bankruptcy court approval, which will allow it to pay suppliers and employees while it reorganizes. It has also arranged for another company which it did not identify to take over its credit operations. That arrangement, coupled with the new financing will significantly improve the company’s liquidity and should allow it to restructure, according to Donald S. Shaffer, who took over as the retailer’s president and CEO on July 21.

The company’s bankruptcy petition listed assets of $1.35 billion and liabilities of $836 million. Its largest creditors include manufacturer Furniture Brands international Inc. and DeRusha.