Leather retailer files for bankruptcy protection
Due to “difficult business conditions”, Canadian leather fashion and furniture retailer Hide House, which has stores in Toronto and Vaughan, Ontario, has filed an Notice of Intention (NOI ) to make a proposal to its creditors under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act, in the hope that it can restructure its operations and continue to run at least one of its stores.
The company's complete inventory is now being liquidated under the direction of Danbury Sales, a liquidation firm, from all three of the company’s locations.
John Brison, president, commented "It is with a great deal of regret that, due to extremely difficult business conditions this past fall and early winter, we have resorted to provisions of the BIA in order to allow the company the necessary time to reorganise its finances, reduce its existing cost structure and, in turn, restore future profitability and viability to the business." He added: "Warm weather early in the season, cross border shopping and increased overheads from expansion created a perfect storm of negative business variables during the fourth quarter of 2007."
Having begun in the former tanning centre of Acton, Ontario, the company’s flagship store was built as a tannery warehouse in 1899.
