Retailer Susie's Deals Sold in Bankruptcy Court
Five months after filing bankruptcy, Susie’s Deals—a Southern California retail chain that sells bargain-basement merchandise at its stores in Utah, Nevada, Arizona and California—has been sold to another Los Angeles retailer for $775,000.
Yossi Dangor, whose Top Top Clothing Inc. and PrimeTime Clothing Inc. companies operate 27 apparel stores and wholesale outlets in California and Texas, said he will take over the leases for 48 Susie’s Deals stores and operate them under their original nameplate.
“We are going to keep the Susie’s Deals name right now but change the merchandise by upgrading it. It is going to be a different ball game,” he said, adding that he recently purchased 800 mannequins from China to help display merchandise in the outlets. “There are no mannequins in the windows right now.”
He said he will take some of the excess inventory from his current stores and stock it in the Susie’s Deal stores as well as sell the Susie’s Deals merchandise and equipment acquired in the sale.
Dangor was the back-up bidder on the bankruptcy sale. His bid was accepted Sept. 9 after Mixxed26 LLC, another Los Angeles company, bid $925,000 for the company but was unable to come up with the necessary cash in time.
Susie’s Deals, with more than $5 million in debt, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on April 1 in the Riverside, Calif., branch of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court.Finances at the company grew extremely tight about one year ago after store executives made a deal with Moshe Javizdad, who received 45 percent of the company in exchange for a $1 million cash infusion to pay old debts. Javizdad, who is associated with Blue Galaxy Inc., a clothing wholesaler in Vernon,Calif., and Pacesetter Fabrics, also forgave $2.8 million in debt that Susie’s Deals owed him.But even that didn’t help. In court papers, the bargain-basement retailer said that the nearly $4 million investment would have been better if it had been cash and a credit line instead of forgiven debt so the chain could order more merchandise.
Susie’s Deals, based in Ontario, Calif., was founded in 1974 by Susie Hyman and her three brothers—Stephen, Howard and David. The company’s concept was to have no clothing sell for more than $5.99, relying on close-outs and overstock to provide some of the stores’ merchandise that included misses, juniors, plus sizes, men’s and children’s clothing. But with merchandise growing more expensive, Susie’s Deals started to lift the $5.99 ceiling to cover costs.At one time, the chain had more than 100 stores. That was reduced to about 70 stores before the bankruptcy. During the bankruptcy, the retailer had permission from the court to close 11 underperforming stores primarily in Arizona and California.—Deborah Belgum
