Gibson's Discount Department Stores
Sears Catalog Stores
When Sears Roebuck decided to phase out its catalog operation, the company called on Hilco Trading and its joint venture partners. Working with Sears as its managing partner in a joint venture, we phased out 67 stores with more than $180 million of retail merchandise in less than 11 weeks.
Our strategy coupled an aggressive, multi-media advertising campaign with an effective public relations program to take maximum advantage of the catalog's wide recognition and deliver saturation exposure within a tightly controlled marketing budget.
Additionally, the assignment presented unique challenges in conducting store closings while simultaneously distributing more than $ 80 million of inventory out of four regional distribution centers. This required over 1500 truckloads to be transferred to stores in less than eight weeks.
Kmart Canada
In 1996, Hilco Trading and a joint venture partner, successfully disposed of $100 million of excess inventory for Kmart Canada. Kmart was burdened with excess and obsolete inventory in 122 stores, covering over 20,000 SKU's. This was inhibiting sales of more profitable merchandise, as well as tying up cash. Hilco Trading conducted the liquidation in all 122 stores without interfering with Kmart's image or cannibalizing regular sales.
Recoveries were far above Kmart's targets. Stores were left with better-balanced inventories, and Canadian newspapers reported that Kmart was the only mass merchant to experience comparable store increases during the period covering the sell-off.
Venture Stores
When Venture needed a company to handle their massive 73-store, $340 million liquidation, they chose Hilco Trading. We had the expertise and experience necessary to move quickly, from start to finish, as well as the financial backing to guarantee the highest possible recovery of Venture's assets. In fact, we were able to guarantee Venture over 90% of the cost of inventory. What's more, Hilco Trading paid all the operating expenses of the liquidation.
Oshman's Sportstown
Oshman's Sporting Goods had adopted a strategy of shifting from smaller mall stores to a large "superstore" format when Sportstown, a bankrupt competitor in the superstore configuration, became available for acquisition.
Oshman's and Hilco Trading entered into a temporary joint venture to purchase the entire inventory in 13 Sportstown locations, and were able to liquidate the merchandise within 10 weeks.
Within three months, all 13 stores were re-opened as Oshman's Superstores, giving Oshman's new outlets, but in locations already established as sporting goods superstores, without any construction costs.
Nine West
Hilco Trading and a joint venture partner helped Nine West, a leading women's fashion footwear retailer, successfully liquidate their leased footwear departments in 68 Burlington Coat Factory outlets, at minimal cost to Nine West.
Recognizing that Burlington Coat Factory's weekly promotions were already driving traffic and that shoe department sales were a function of that traffic, we developed a strategic in-store signing campaign that effectively generated sales. We concluded a successful sale that provided Nine West cash in excess of the originally guaranteed amount.
Gibson's Discount Department StoresGibson's Discount Department Stores, a privately held 29-store chain, felt it could accomplish two strategic objectives by one stroke: close seven under-performing locations and convert those assets into cash urgently needed to buy inventory for surviving stores. Time and cash flow pressures were acute.
Hilco Trading and a joint venture partner managed the seven-store closing within eight weeks and provided Gibson's with more than $9.5 million which was used to improve the company's position with its lenders, gave them a more liquid position in order to refinance their existing debt and allowed them to reorganize in an increasingly competitive environment.