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Sunday, November 22, 
6:45 am

Unhappy trails for Eddie Bauer?

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Some retailers who entered bankruptcy a few years ago and reorganized obviously just delayed the inevitable, since a number of them have returned and will now liquidate because of a deep economic recession.

Retailers such as KB Toys Inc., Steve & Barry's LLC and Fortunoff Fine Jewelry and Silverware LLC have all recently filed for bankruptcy for a second time and will liquidate. Eddie Bauer Holdings Inc. may be the next retailer to share that dubious distinction.

Eddie Bauer, a 300-store clothing chain, exited from Chapter 11 on June 21, 2005, but it's been in talks with liquidators such as Gordon Brothers Group and Hilco Consumer Capital LLC, as well as other buyers, recently, Bloomberg reported.

Similar reports flashed recently about Filene's Basement Corp., which was in talks with liquidators but was trying to avoid having to file for bankruptcy protection, a Reuter's article said.

But Filene's, a chain of 25 retail stores, succumbed like the others, filing for Chapter 11 on May 4 with plans to sell 17 of its stores to a group consisting of retail real estate owner Crown Acquisitions and Chetrit Group LLC for $22 million.

For casualwear retailer Eddie Bauer, it's a trend about as uncomfortable as a new pair of stiff hiking boots. - Jamie Mason


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Comments

From: Steven,

Bauer is going down
they have let far too many good people go over the last few years, they need to reorganize again and change the merchant lead focus they have.


From: Solomon Akhimienmhona,

Eddie Bauer will restructure or hopefully, they get bought over.
They should;
1.Spearhead the whole eco/green clothing moevement or hire me to do it for them.
2.Sell their poorly positioned stores and revamp their store to have the 'green' theme.
3.Buy a license for a company like BAPE or BANC to distribute their clothing in North America.
4.Go big in China & Japan.

Go deep into the hip hop clothing culture - hire someone like pharell williams or Sean Combs's team to handle this

If I had the money, I'd buy eddie bauer and turn it into an ultra profitable company - its got mad potential.


From: dan,

Hip Hop, are you serious.

That is about the worst idea i have ever heard, their target market right now is like midwest soccer moms and casual hikers, they will lose all creditability if they start selling giant ripped jeans and XXXL shirts with Obama on them. They need to go back to their roots and sell affordable hiking clothes and equipment, the only people really in the outdoors market are a lot higher price (eg. The North Face, Mountain Hardwear, Patagonia etc.) These places cant compete with the prices that eddie sells their equipment at, they just need to promote these items more. Hip Hop is a bust.



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