The Shophound

Today In Liquidation: Bankruptcy For Best & Co. Shutters Children's Shop At Bergdorf's

It's back to the trash heap of long lost stores for Best & Co. as Connecticut based retailer which has also been operating the children's department at Bergdorf Goodman is liquidating. The company which though a series of acquisitions is now part of Toys R Us, filed a Chapter 7 petition for liquidation Friday in New Jersey.
Originally remembered as a great Fifth Avenue department store, the Best & Co. name was revived in the late '90s by Susie (the former Mrs. Tommy) Hilfiger in Greenwich, Connecticut as a high end children's store featuring luxury clothes for children, often attracting designers to make special collections. It was a natural fit to take over a leased space on Bergdorf's 7^th floor where children's clothing had been eliminated years before. The Greenwich store was precipitously shut on Saturday, and the Bergdorf's space will also close.
Hilfiger sold her company to FAO Schwarz in 2007, and Schwarz was acquired by Toys R Us last month. Presumably, the toy behemoth wanted little to do with a money-losing, exclusive specialty apparel business (can you blame them?). Bergdorf's is now listed among the company's creditors. From all reports, Toys R Us will continue operating the FAO Schwarz stores in New York and Las Vegas, but, for now, it's curtains for Best & Co.
Best & Co. Files Chapter 7 Liquidation (WWD)

Brooklyn Departures: Yoko Deveraux Folds After Times Spotlight

We have heard stories from retailers about how coverage in the Times' Critical Shopper column can add a nice boost to business, but it doesn't seem to have been enough to save Williamsburg hipster boutique Yoko Deveraux.
Only a few weeks after being showcased by Mike Albo in the Thursday Styles, The label has announced that it is folding due to its parent company's financial troubles. Perhaps Mike should have left out the part where he found the brand at a thrift shop down the street for a fraction of the price.
Putting a positive spin on things, the label is holding a "Liquidation Celebration" on its website right now at giveaway prices. The sale will open up to the Brooklyn store tomorrow through Thursday or until everything is gone including fixtures.
Get it while you can, skinny Williamsburg boys!
Discontinued: Hipster Ambassador Yoko Devereaux Shuts Down (Racked)
Critical Shopper | Yoko Devereaux: Walk a Mile in Their Droopy Cardigans (NYTimes)
Previously: Mike Albo Goes Shopping: Hipster Defense Edition

Unsurprising Announcements: Ruehl Gets The Axe

We could brag that we saw this coming, but that's not really saying too much. Frankly, we couldn't see the point of Ruehl when Abercrombie & Fitch launched the new division a few years ago, and apparently neither did much of anybody else. The parent company announced today that it would be shuttering the chain following a month of strategic review. Ruehl posted losses of $58 million last year, which would be a substantial sum for a department store chain like Saks or Neiman's, let alone a measly 29-unit specialty chain.
That leaves a choice little spot on Bleecker Street where the chain has an accessories-only location to be vacated just as the company is readying a huge new Hollister flagship in SoHo.
Conventional wisdom would have other retailers vying to take over the lease on the still-desirable street, but we are betting that Abercrombie will hold the spot for another of its nameplates, possibly Gilly Hicks, the women's intimates chain (with an imaginary history in Sydney, Australia) launched last year, whose website predictable features lots of images and a promotional video of women in and out of lingerie frolicking on the beach with mostly naked men.
Sound familiar? Don't bruise your fingers clicking over there.
Plus ça change...
A&F Decides Ruehl's Fate (WWD)
Abercrombie & Fitch to Close RUEHL Operations; Company Amends Credit Agreement (PR Newswire)
Previously: Ruehl's Days Are Numbered

And We're Done: Marc Ecko Finally Exits The Gayborhood

We were never convinced that 8^th Avenue between 17^th and 18^th Streets was a good location for the Marc Ecko Cut & Sew boutique. Nevertheless, the store hung on for a good year and a half or so. It tried its best to ingratiate itself with the Chelsea natives by advertising in HX and even selling the occasional circuit party ticket, but it never really became a hub of activity despite the physical improvements it made to the hopelessly trashy former home of Bang Bang.
Unfortunately, it was the merchandise on the shelves that didn't connect with the locals, and while one could argue that it was an alternative to Chelsea's trendiness, a quick look around would have told anyone that there were better locations to be had for a brand that used Playboy's "Girl Next Door" Kendra Wilkinson in its latest ad campaign (although, Kendra's camp appeal probably went a lot further than the label's style ...but we digress). It was no surprise to discover thanks to our friends at RACKED that the store finally closed its doors sometime this past week. Ecko has been having dodgy luck as a retailer recently. A highly touted Times Square flagship location was rented for years without ever opening. Here's hoping that his next venture gets closer to his customer and the next occupant at 147 8^th Avenue has better luck.
Marc Ecko Cut & Sew Snuffed Out in Chelsea (RACKED)
Previously: Marc Ecko Cut & Sew: A Chelsea Head-Scratcher

Departures: Happy Trails To Howdy Do

This past weekend saw the passing of anther iconic East Village store. Howdy Do was a compact corner of East 7^th Street, but its roots ran back to the freewheeling pre-gentrified days of the early '90s when the neighborhood was more drag bar than coffee bar. The brainchild of Michael Torres and Ryan Lance and their love of pop culture in its myriad forms, Howdy Do became a cherished headquarters for the media effluvia and gaudy baubles known as kitsch. The duo built their reputations as connoisseurs of collectibles at the forefront of what would become a national obsession, offering forgotten treasures like Blythe dolls, vintage books and accessories and all manner of promotional tie in products from long forgotten movies and TV shows. Looking for an original Cher doll? Here was your first stop.
After an all too familiar story of dodgy landlords and staggering rent hikes, Torres and Lance weighed their options and decided the time was right to take a break from retail life.
"We had other opportunities in the neighborhood to move the store," Torres told us last Saturday as the last of Howdy Do's goods and fixtures were being sold, and the shop was being dismantled. "We felt like this was a good time to regroup and return in a new way." The team promises to bring Howdy Do back in a new form, perhaps as a showroom catering more to stylists, designers and special customers or as whatever happens to feels right for the times.
The pair are sanguine about the inevitability of change, recalling how neighborhood regulars were rattled when they first opened in place of the popular Egg Store. "People would line up for fresh eggs every Tuesday, but we didn't push them out," they told us. In fact, the pair acquired the lease from another store whose plans fell through before it opened. Howdy Do thrived until the popularity of eBay, the changing neighborhood, and of course, the economy slowed business.
Lance and Torres will use the break to work on long postponed projects like a photo book chronicling their experiences as their nightlife alter egos Brandy Wine and Brenda A. Go-Go, regulars at the Marc Jacobs show and glamorous events all over town. Then there are the hours and hours of their hilarious, beloved and frequently tawdry Public Access television show On Patrol that chronicled a particularly vibrant moment in New York's club and fashion culture and is waiting to be repackaged for new eyes.
While Lance and Torres are full of plans for the future, nobody is quite sure what will take the newly vacant space. For East 7^th Street, however, the loss will be another symbol of an especially vivid time in the East Village's bohemian heritage.
Brandy Wine and Brenda A. Go-Go Are On Patrol (Official Site)

Ruehl's Days Are Numbered

There are many retailers who have done everything they can to respond to the current economic climate with price reductions and other promotions designed to keep customers coming back to stores and keep their sales numbers up as much as possible.
Then there's Abercrombie & Fitch.
A&F's business has nosedived a whopping 23.5% in the last quarter, sustaining a loss of $26.8 million, which is bad news by anyone's standards. They have consistently refused to reduce prices, but have not really offered much newness to customers to spark their interest. It doesn't take a genius to see what their main problem is. With an economic shift, the company has hit a wall.
As the company is about to open a lavish flagship in SoHo for its second, more successful division, Hollister, it is putting its third nameplate, Ruehl, under 'Strategic Review' according to WWD.
With a relatively small size of 28 stores including Bleecker Street's accessories-only location, Ruehl has never grown to be the success its parent had hoped for, mostly, in our humble opinion, because its merchandise offers little variation from its sibling stores, which are usually clustered together in the mall to begin with. Its same store sales have plunged a whopping 34% since last year. WWD suggests that such reviews often result in a closure or sale of the business. We would not be so bold as to make that prediction, but we wouldn't be at all surprised to see one little storefront on Bleecker become available soon.
Abercrombie Begins ‘Strategic Review’ of Ruehl (WWD)

Everything Must Go! The Final Virgin Falls

The last Virgin Megastore is getting ready to shut its doors forever. We have already written about how there will essentially be no major record stores left in the New York City when that happens, and that anyone looking for even the most marginally obscure CDs will have to resort to the internet.
What we haven't written about is how totally stupid the closing sale is.
At the moment, everything in the store is mostly around 20% off full price. That means that the CDs, which generally sold at promotional prices of around $9 to $12 the week before, are now priced higher than they were before the sale began. For example, say the new U2 CD sold for about $9.99, while the list price is $13.98, then the Closing Sale price at Virgin is now $11.14. The only real discount we found was a whopping 5% off iPods.
Great! the store's closing and now pretty much everything is more expensive.
We can't wait to get in line for that.

Winding Down: Empty Shelves As Balducci's Fades

It's a Mother Hubbard-ish scene at Balducci's as the famous food store gets ready to close its Manhattan branches. Anyone still looking for a good deal on an expensive bottle of extra virgin olive oil or some discount cheese has missed the boat, as the grocery selection, now at 60% off, has dwindled to a few shelves of random items. There are still a few wedges of Roquefort at the cheese counter which is otherwise bare. Of course, yesterday afternoon was the first time we have ever seen a long checkout line at the Chelsea location, and this was on a Thursday afternoon.
The stores are expected to close at the end of April, but we have a hard time imagining this shop lasting past the weekend if things continue at this rate. Oddly, the prepared foods and sandwich counters remain fully stocked, although not appreciably discounted.
Aside from the general grimness of a store closing, it's sad to see this one go if only because the Greek Revival bank building provides it with such a beautiful home. Hopefully, the next tenant will do it justice —if there is one anytime soon.
At this point, we sort of feel like a vulture picking over a carcass, although there is still a little meat left on the bones.
Half price pies anyone?
Previously: A Slow Retreat: Balducci's Begins The Clearance

A Slow Retreat:Balducci's Begins The Clearance

Balducci's has only a few weeks left in Manhattan, and though it's tricky to run a clearance sale on groceries, the soon to close branches have begun running sales on the somewhat less perishable items like cheese, for example. Say what you will, the stores have always had first class cheese counters, and currently their contents are 40% off, making it an excellent time to grab a few hunks of Parmigiano-Reggiano, or perhaps a nice, aged English cheddar while they last. Other groceries around the store are discounted anywhere from 15% to 50%, bringing the prices more in line with a normal market, if only for a few weeks.
Balducci's 81 Eighth Avenue at 14^th Street, Chelsea and 155 A West 66^th Street, Upper West Side

Food Farewell: Balducci's To Exit Manhattan

Another landmark New York nameplate is down, but not totally out. As a result of a restructuring of its parent company, Balducci's, one of the city's original gourmet markets, will close both its Manhattan locations by the end of April, according to the New York Post.
The store, which merged with the Sutton Place Gourmet chain about 10 years ago which subsequently converted all of its stores to the more famous name.
After the original Greenwich Village location was shuttered in 2003, the smaller Lincoln Square location maintained the brand for  a few years until the lavish Chelsea flagship was opened two years ago in a marble lined former bank building at 14^th Street and 8^th Avenue.
Other stores closing include a Ridgefield, Connecticut branch and the Washington DC location which, ironically, is the original Sutton Place Gourmet site.
The Balducci's name had been dogged by complaints about its high prices practically since it opened, but it had garnered a loyal following for decades in the Village. New ownership and heavy competition from the likes of Whole Foods started robbing it of its customers, however, and the newer locations never managed to capture the following of its original home.
Six suburban units will remain for now in Maryland, Northern Virginia, Connecticut and New York, so the possibility of a Manhattan return remains, but we wouldn't expect one anytime soon. Perhaps the fact that Sutton Place is now owned by a Bear Stearns Merchant Banking led investment group suggests that the chain's future is somewhat less than rosy.
For those who think Balducci's had nothing left to offer New York's customers (and there are apparently many), we suggest grabbing a package of their shortbread rounds before the stores close. You might think otherwise after a couple of those dreamy, buttery cookies.
Gourmet Goodbye As Balducci's Shutters (NYPost)
Balducci's (Official Site)