BrandsMart Midwest To Shut Down
By Alan Wolf -- TWICE, 4/5/2004
KANSAS CITY, MO.— BrandsMart Midwest is going out of business.
The A/V specialty chain, which operates six stores in Kansas and Missouri, reportedly informed vendors late in March of its decision to shutter its doors, and has commenced liquidation sales.
According to Roger Heuberger, executive director of the Progressive Retailers Organization (PRO Group), which counted BrandsMart among its members, the privately held CE chain had initially considered a reorganization plan that included closing its two oldest locations. But market conditions within the Kansas City area compelled the company to close.
Heuberger said the management team, led by chairman/president Bill Berg and COO Lee Roarke, are in close communication with vendors and are liquidating their assets in an orderly fashion.
"They're doing it as honorably and gracefully as one can," Heuberger said.
BrandsMart management was unavailable for comment at press time. The company had CE sales of $37 million in 2002, according to the TWICE CE Top 100.
