Mall-based teen apparel retailers have struggled over the past few years amid growing competition from lower-priced “fast-fash¬ion” chains such as H&M and Forever 21, as well as the likes of off-price retailer TJ Maxx and Internet players ranging from Amazon to Zappos.
But retail CEOs have more to worry about. They are particularly concerned about broader trends at play in teen apparel retailing, including high unemploy¬ment […]
In an ongoing effort to capitalize on the rapidly expanding prescription drug market in the U.S., pharmacy operators are placing a premium on prescription volume. A given pharmacy location’s volume is represented by the prescription file — also known as the script list within the pharmacy industry—which represents the number of prescriptions filled over a given period of time. A closer look also reveals that […]
For the past several years, high-volume hydraulic fracturing (aka “fracking”) has helped the U.S. energy sector extract more and more petroleum and natural gas from shale and other deposits deep beneath the surface of the earth. The development of this technology in itself would be a boon to borrowers in oil and gas. But it happens to also coincide with a string of truly massive […]
Just as growing numbers of traditional retailers have learned to augment their core brick-and-mortar assets by building well-trafficked e-commerce sites, liquidation firms serving the ABL industry are also mastering the nuances of leveraging the Internet as an effective sales channel. Those in our industry have considerable reason to do so. After all, more e-tailers are now seeking ABL loans, and even liquidations of purely brickand-mortar […]
To get a feel for how excited some Canadians are about the prospect of foreign brands entering the country, take a look at the columns of Marina Strauss in The Globe and Mail newspaper. The Toronto-based retail reporter maintains a vigilant watch for the latest scuttlebutt about the Canadian “invasion plans” of chains such as Target, Nordstrom, Bloomingdale’s and Lowe’s. Likewise, the press releases and […]
In the topsy-turvy period that followed the financial meltdown of 2008, the U.S. economy weathered the liquidation of thousands of companies, including big-name retailers such as Circuit City, Goody’s, Mervyn’s, Gottschalks, and Ritz Camera, to name a few. But the change in market conditions meant that a large number of companies needed updated appraisals right away. The resulting backlog forced the secured lending community to […]
When a borrower goes into Chapter 7, it’s natural to focus on the endgame: liquidation. After all, operational concerns come to the fore only in cases involving reorganization, right? Not necessarily. Consider our largelot sale of the majority of former assets from one of North America’s biggest auto parts suppliers — Fenco (Fenwick Automotive Products Ltd., and Introcan).
A major supplier to the likes of AutoZone, […]
The rapidly changing retail food sector shows no signs of slowing down. But while the overall growth in this space is noteworthy, it is arguably more interesting to consider where this growth is occurring: Mass merchants such as Walmart, Target, Costco and even dollar stores and drugstores continue to seize market share from traditional food retailers. Meanwhile, the foodie and healthy-living trends have been driving […]
Judging liquidation firms based on their experience with particular asset types has a certain logical consistency. For instance, if your goal is to qualify yourself to a major meatpacking company, the thinking goes, you should seek a firm with years of experience in liquidating meatpacking assets. Upon closer examination, however, this logic breaks down. Today’s marketplace demands not merely depth of experience in certain sectors, […]
The notion that food is a safe-harbor business in rocky economic times is as old as the phrase “People have to eat.” And safer harbors, of course, tend to attract lots of ships, which is why food can be found nearly everywhere today. Perishable and non-perishable groceries, for example, are routinely available in the drug and dollar stores that are blanketing the country. This trend […]
