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Grex > Music2 > #149: Schoolkids closing! Eeep! Alert! |  |
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| Author |
Message |
anderyn
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Schoolkids closing! Eeep! Alert!
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Sep 4 13:46 UTC 1998 |
NEWSFLASH!
Steve Bergman is declaring bankruptcy, and Schoolkids is closing
soon. Going out of business sale this weekend.
(Jim Leonard, who took over SKR Classical, may buy it out of
bankruptcy in a while.)
(This is from my friend whose husband co-owns the Observer.)
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| 64 responses total. |
bmoran
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response 1 of 64:
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Sep 4 14:15 UTC 1998 |
I'm not holding my breath. I'm sure the store has been run well enough.
Are they reorganizing, or just calling it quits? A store with a world-wide
reputation doesn't just fold up in the middle of the week.
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bmoran
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response 2 of 64:
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Sep 4 14:17 UTC 1998 |
Well, I just tried the web site. Temporally closed due to non-payment.
OUCH!
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anderyn
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response 3 of 64:
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Sep 4 19:27 UTC 1998 |
The owner (I talked to him when I pelted down there at lunch) has been
going through a bankruptcy and -- while I don't know the details -- has
apparently been screwed by some less than scrupulous
creditors/law-types. As well, he explained that they'd taken a big hit
after Borders moved in across the street, a good 25% of business, and
that if he'd realized it before, he might have stemmed the red ink, but
he didn't, and if he'd had more cash or something, again, the tide might
have turned, but it's too late now. I
They will be closing next Friday. There's a letter up at each cash
register explaining this. I am really bummed.
He says that it would be best if people came in and bought their
stuff now, because it will just all be liquidated by the bank. I
have no idea how the bank will dispose of it, but it doesn't seem
like it's a good day for Ann Arbor.
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orinoco
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response 4 of 64:
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Sep 4 20:51 UTC 1998 |
EEEEK!
I almost never shop at Schoolkids anymore, because I almost never buy new CDs
anymore, but this sounds like quite a blow to the non-chain-store music
business in A2.
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krj
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response 5 of 64:
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Sep 4 22:09 UTC 1998 |
I'm sad, but not surprised. I'd been picking up vibrations of
retail distress ever since Borders opened just across the street.
The diversity of the stock had been slipping badly in the past couple
of years. In my particular obsession, British Isles folk-ish music,
Schoolkids just wasn't bringing in the import discs that I wanted.
Ten years ago they were pretty reliable about it; even three years
ago they got a lot in.
As a consequence, I know that my own spending at Schoolkids slipped
drastically in the last two years.
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