I declare...BANKRUPTCY!!!

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Article here

Looks like the unpaid taxes are from 2013-2016. Also I was off on the total amount, which is $13.5 million (taxes and penalties)

[Tama]

How far back do these back taxes date, or did they say?

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

I'm not a corporate finance expert or anything, but I assume not paying state sales tax is kind of bad?

Because I read yesterday that Shopko owed about $20 million in back sales tax to the state of Wisconsin. Which is pretty darn funny considering their last advertising campaign was "Proud to Call Wisconsin Home (As we stiff them on sales tax)"

[mhkohne]

The stores staying open are more spread out than I thought they would go with. Then again maybe they are the most profitable ones.

That may be good for them - spread out means they have less chance of cannibalizing another store's sales. Of course, that assumes that those stores are profitable (or close to it) and the whole thing has any chance of success.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

The stores staying open are more spread out than I thought they would go with. Then again maybe they are the most profitable ones.

[Tama]

Is there any kind of sense to it? Like the stores in X state or Y area?

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

About 70% of the company's stores are closing in total.

The news hinted at prospective buyers, so maybe somebody is willing to throw money down this particular hole? IDK. The list of stores staying open still doesn't make a lot of sense.

[Victory Sabre]

Well, there's a new list out of stores closing, and now the one on the east side of town is closing.

I am surprised it wasn't in the first list.

[Argus]

Is it normal to receive such a letter if a company for which you used to work files for bankruptcy?

I did for my first employer. (In that case, there actually was some debt; the unemployment office told us we could count the missed payday as the job termination date.)

Sending a few letters where the remaining debt actually is $0 leads to less of a headache than finding out afterwards that some creditors were overlooked.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

I received a letter about the bankruptcy filing in the mail yesterday, along with instructions about filing a claim to recover debt owed, if any. Or something.

Is it normal to receive such a letter if a company for which you used to work files for bankruptcy?

[Food Lady]

processes are hilariously inefficient (and the only answer Shopko was ever willing to accept for that is "work harder), the prices are way too high and the wages are too low to attract anybody but first-jobbers and the basically unemployable.

The "work harder" thing: been there, done that. Yes, prices are too high. I can find some of that stuff for 1/4 the price elsewhere, especially home decor. I don't know what they get paid but I'm sure it's less than at the Bullseye.

[Mental_Mouse]

Been watching the store closing near me. They are up to 40% on the sale, yet there never seems to be more than 4 or 5 cars in the parking lot. They had even hired 4 sign twirler for last saturday. Last major store closing I remember had a full parking lot at this point.

So they can't even handle their bankruptcy...

[Arcus]

Been watching the store closing near me. They are up to 40% on the sale, yet there never seems to be more than 4 or 5 cars in the parking lot. They had even hired 4 sign twirler for last saturday. Last major store closing I remember had a full parking lot at this point.

I don't think this is going too well for them at this location.


Other effects of this have started though. A large number of the pharmacy customers have started going to the store at the other end of the complex. This one has always been a little understaffed and even though they have signs everywhere welcoming the new customers, they were not ready for it. It now takes twice as long to fill and they keep running out everything. This is bad for my parents because now they never know if they will get what they need or if they will have to call around to find it somewhere else.

[Buzzard]

A business up for sale is nice and all, but if it will cost more to update the systems to useful/competitive than it will cost to build new, or take too long to pay off investment... nope.

Just another case of killing the cash cow by not bothering to FEED it.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

I read in the paper today that they are going to reorganize. They gained $63 million from the sale of the pharmacies in the stores. I wonder if they can make it.

I highly doubt it. The sale of the pharmacies netted significantly less money than they were hoping.

They will also need somebody to buy the company or invest money into it to keep it going. Even if that happens, a lot more money will be needed to make the company even remotely competitive. Most of the stores have seen no upgrades in 15-25 years, technology is outdated, processes are hilariously inefficient (and the only answer Shopko was ever willing to accept for that is "work harder), the prices are way too high and the wages are too low to attract anybody but first-jobbers and the basically unemployable.

As I understand it, the company was put up for sale before the bankruptcy filing, but nobody was willing to buy it.