Metropark's IP Acquired
Prominent mall retailer Metropark might soon be back in business.
New York–based The Weisfeld Group purchased the intellectual property of the bankrupt retailer for an undisclosed amount earlier this month. The Weisfeld Group also owns such fashion labels as Coogi, Drunken Monkey and FuBu. A few days after the purchase, Weisfeld Group hired retail consultant Izzy Ezrailson to help chart new options for Metropark, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in New York in May.
Ezrailson and another consultant, Lawrence Blenden, have been tasked with finding new opportunities for Metropark. Ezrailson said Weisfeld Group will probably have a new business plan for Metropark in the near future. “It will take advantage of the good parts which they did play,” Ezrailson said. “[Metropark’s] buyers created a sterling environment.” Ezrailson served on the advisory board of Metropark in 2004. He also foundedWashington, D.C.–based boutique chain Up Against the Wall in 1969. Ezrailson left the company in 2006 to work as a consultant. The chain closed in 2010. Founded in 2004 by Hot Topic founder Orv Madden, Metropark maintained administrative and buying offices in City of Industry, Calif. After declaring bankruptcy, the retailer said that it owed more than $8.8 million to its debtors, including fashion labels True Religion and Obey as well as some Westfield malls. After hosting going-out-of-business sales, Metropark shuttered its 69 locations, including stores in prominent California malls Irvine Spectrum and Westfield San Francisco Centre.Madden’s vision for Metropark was to bring streetwear and premium denim to suburban malls. Metropark’s business was good enough that it registered to file an IPO in 2008. But the retailer was hit hard by the recession. When it could not find a buyer, bankruptcy was its only option, according to Metropark Chief Executive Cynthia T. Harriss.
The return of Metropark cheered owners of contemporary fashion showrooms such as Jason Bates, owner of the Derelicte showroom in Los Angeles.“There is room for retailers who push the fashion envelope with design and price point,” Bates said. “Unfortunately, Metropark did it during the worst economy of our lifetimes.quot;
