Free Republic

A number of well-known brands disappeared in the last year in large part due to economic forces. Many of them were in the retail industry, led by Circuit City. ATA and Aloha airlines are gone. Gateway Computers has effectively disappeared after being bought by Acer. It still has a website, but the brand is no longer marketed. As the recession deepens and stretches out quarter after quarter, more companies will close or will shut divisions. More brands will disappear because their parents firms fold or can no longer afford to support them. Other brands will be obliterated by mergers. 24/7...

As the recession deepens, economic forces continue to drive consolidation in the retail industry, debt comes due and increasingly discerning consumers buckle down on discretionary spending, an analysis by 24/7 Wall Street predicts that a number of well-known brands are likely to disappear before the end of 2010. To determine which brands are most likely at risk, 24/7 Wall Street examined 100 large brands it believes are in trouble and, for each, looked at public financial records, sales information, analyses from industry experts, the competitive landscape in each’s industry and the likelihood that a brand could be sold off in...

NEW YORK – Clothing retailer Eddie Bauer Holdings Inc. filed on Wednesday for Chapter 11 bankruptcy court protection, the latest retail casualty of the recession. It said CCMP Capital Advisors LLC has bid for its assets. Other buyers may also make bids while the company is under court protection.

The buzz this week has been that Eddie Bauer Holdings is close to filing for bankruptcy if it can’t sell itself or restructure. Liquidation firms have reportedly been sizing up the apparel cataloger/retailer for weeks, including Hilco Consumer Capital and Gordon Brothers—the firms that bought Sharper Image out of bankruptcy in May 2008. Eddie Bauer, which recorded a net loss of $165.5 million for fiscal year 2008, said in March it has $193 million in outstanding debt, and that it was trying to amend the loan terms. The Bellevue, WA-based company generated $971.3 million in sales for fiscal 2008, down...

Posted on Thu, Jan. 01, 2004 BERKELEY LOSES RETAIL SYMBOL Eddie Bauer closing after 5 yearsBy Jessica GuynnCONTRA COSTA TIMES Five years ago, when Eddie Bauer swung open its shiny new doors in downtown Berkeley, the city wrapped a banner around the building at the corner of Shattuck Avenue and Allston Way to welcome the "symbol of Berkeley's brighter future."At the height of the economic boom, city officials predicted that landing Eddie Bauer -- whose brand-name outdoorsy gear already generated big catalog and online sales in the Birkenstock and polar fleece capital -- would revive Berkeley's main drag, which...