Bankrupt Mervyn's Goes Belly Up

All of chain's 149 stores to be liquidated before end of year
By Rob Quinn,  Newser Staff
Posted Oct 18, 2008 6:39 AM CDT
Bankrupt Mervyn's Goes Belly Up
A woman applies for a job with Mervyn's at an electronic kiosk in the Mervyn's department store Friday, Oct. 17, 2008, in Hayward, Calif.    (AP Photo/Ben Margot)

Mervyn's will be closing all of its 149 stores before the end of the year and holding huge going-out-of business sales, the Bay Area's Daily Review reports. The California-based department store chain filed for bankruptcy in July and had been fruitlessly scrambling for a sale or a deal with landlords and creditors that would keep it alive. More than 3,000 jobs will be lost in the Bay Area alone.

A statement from Mervyns' CEO blamed the demise of the 59-year-old chain on the "extremely challenging retail environment" and said all other possibilities had been exhausted. Retail analysts said the company's mix of quality and discount items had failed to secure it a niche in recent years, and things worsened after the low-to-middle-income shoppers it targeted were hit hard by California's slumping economy.
(More bankruptcy stories.)

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