Everything must go.
Wet Seal, which filed for bankruptcy protection last week, is selling everything from clothes to accessories to furniture and equipment as the Irvine-based retailer gets ready to close its stores and website.
Boston-based Gordon Bros. and Chicago-based Hilco Merchant Resources, hired to close out the business, said in a statement that store closures have begun at 137 locations. While Wet Seal lists 171 stores on its website, it’s likely the struggling company has not updated its information.
Locally, the retailer has stores in Lakewood, Torrance, Downey, Northridge, San Bernardino and Ontario, and an outlet store in Commerce.
Sales will run while inventory lasts. Customers will find items discounted 40 percent to 60 percent, according to Gordon Bros. and Hilco.
Wet Seal was founded in 1962 as Lorne’s and was incorporated as Wet Seal in 1990.
During the heyday of surf-inspired teen fashion, Wet Seal expanded, acquiring roughly 200 Contempo Casuals stores in 1995 from the Neiman Marcus Group. It also developed Arden B, a fashion brand aimed at women in their 20s and 30s. All 54 Arden B stores closed in mid-2014. The stores were then converted to Wet Seal Plus or Wet Seal stores.
Shortly before filing for Chapter 11 in 2015, the company closed 338 stores, or two-thirds of its U.S. locations, and laid off 3,700 employees after a default notice was filed by creditor Hudson Bay Master Fund for around $29 million.
The company shifted to Irvine in 2016.
Retailers woes
Longstanding retailers have lost ground in recent years as new fast-fashion brands and internet shopping take hold.
Familiar names – PacSun, Quiksilver, and American Apparel – have fallen into bankruptcy with some reorganizing into leaner, private operations.
Anaheim-based Pacific Sunwear of California’s reorganization plan was approved in September. PacSun gave its stock to affiliates of private equity firm Golden Gate Capital, its senior lender.
Huntington Beach-based Quiksilver filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in September 2015. In October of that year, the company received court approval for a $175 million financing package with Oaktree Capital Management, which now holds a controlling interest in the company.
Aeropostale Inc. filed for bankruptcy in May. A group of buyers led by mall operators Simon Property Group Inc. and General Growth Properties Inc. announced in 2016 they would keep at least 229 of Aeropostale’s locations open. There were approximately 800 Aeropostale stores before it filed for bankruptcy protection.
Earlier this month The Limited filed for bankruptcy after closing down its 250 stores and shuttering its website. The company entered into an asset purchase agreement with an affiliate of private equity company Sycamore Partners. Sycamore will acquire the company’s assets and intellectual property.
American Apparel has started mass layoffs as it shutters stores. The brand filed for bankruptcy twice in just over a year. Canadian clothing manufacturer Gildan Activewear is buying the company for $88 million
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