Thread: Mervyns plans liquidation: close its remaining 149 locations

Friday, October 17, 2008 - 12:03 PM PDT | Modified: Friday, October 17, 2008 - 12:09 PM

Mervyns plans liquidation
San Francisco Business Times

It’s over for Mervyns.

The Hayward retailer said Friday that it would close its remaining 149 locations. The stores will remain open through the holiday season with liquidation sales. Mervyns previously planned to close 26 under performing locations.

The 59-year old chain, with a California-heavy store base, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection at the end of July, but proved unable to gain any traction on its turnaround efforts. The company had struggled in recent years, squeezed at the bottom by retailers like Wal-Mart (NYSE: WMT) and out-performed by its mid-tier competitors like Kohl’s and J.C. Penney (NYSE: JCP).

The economic downturn and housing crisis further hurt Mervyns since many of its California stores were in hard-hit areas.

In April, John Goodman, formerly president and general manager of Levi’s Dockers brand, joined Mervyns as CEO but proved unable to turn the tide.

“We are disappointed with this outcome, but the company’s declining liquidity position and the extremely challenging retail environment, together with the fact that we’ve exhausted all other possibilities, requires that we take this action,â€

Maybe they should not have driven their American customers out by pandering so much to Latin Americans. At least that is what my sister told me.