Consumers Distributing: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 04:30, 1 November 2020

Revision as of 05:21, 1 November 2020

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By 1995, revenues had declined to $580 million.<ref name="trouble">{{cite news | url=https://archive.macleans.ca/article/1996/8/12/trouble-in-store | title=Trouble in store | first=DAVID | last=ESTOK | work=[[Maclean's]] | date=August 12, 1996}}</ref><ref name="dummies"/>

In the 1990s, Consumers Distributing struggled to compete with [[Zellers]] then [[Walmart Canada]]. On July 29, 1996, Consumers Distributing filed for protection from its creditors under the [[Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act]].<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB838730154273222000 | title=Shares Edge Lower | work=[[The Wall Street Journal]] | date=July 30, 1996 | url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref name="trouble"/> On August 2, 1996, Consumers Distributing, which owed nearly $250 million in debt, laid off half of the 210 employees at its head office.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://collections.banq.qc.ca/biblio/js/pdfjs/pdfjs-1.6.210-dist_banq/web/pdf.php/523272182319.pdf|title=DAC licencie la moitié des employés de son siège social|website=[[Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec|BAnQ]]|publisher=[[La Presse (Canadian newspaper)|La Presse]]|date=August 3, 1996|page=E2}}</ref> On August 9, 1996, Consumers Distributing announced the closure of 129 of its 219 stores, including all of its branches outside of Ontario and Quebec.<ref>{{cite news|title=Consumers Distributing closes the book on catalogue shopping|url=http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/throwback-thursday-edmonton-stereos-parks-1.4241144|work=[[CBC News]]|date=August 9, 1996|accessdate=August 10, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://collections.banq.qc.ca/biblio/js/pdfjs/pdfjs-1.6.210-dist_banq/web/pdf.php/523272182355.pdf|title=DAC ferme 129 magasins mais consolide sa position au Québec|website=[[Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec|BAnQ]]|publisher=[[La Presse (Canadian newspaper)|La Presse]]|date=August 10, 1996|page=E10}}</ref> On August 21, 1996, the Ontario justice approved theagreements of stock liquidation which was to start on August 23, 1996, and of printing agreements for three million catalogues resulting from a two-year contract extension until 2001, that Consumers Distributing had respectively concluded with the Hilco/Great American group and the [[Quebecor]] printing companies.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://collections.banq.qc.ca/biblio/js/pdfjs/pdfjs-1.6.210-dist_banq/web/pdf.php/523272182414.pdf|title=DAC s'entend avec Quebecor|website=[[Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec|BAnQ]]|publisher=[[La Presse (Montréal)|La Presse]]|date=August 22, 1996|page=B4}}</ref> In August 1996, a group of former Consumers Distributing executives led by president Michael Haberman offered to buy the company for approximately $75 million.<ref name="quatre">{{cite web|url=http://collections.banq.qc.ca/biblio/js/pdfjs/pdfjs-1.6.210-dist_banq/web/pdf.php/523272182478.pdf|title=Quatre nouveaux acheteurs potentiels s'intéressent à Distribution aux consommateurs|website=[[Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec|BAnQ]]|publisher=[[La Presse (Canadian newspaper)|La Presse]]|date=September 4, 1996|page=D7}}</ref> In September 1996, four potential new buyers were in the running to acquire the company, two Canadian groups and two other American.<ref name="quatre"/> Liquidation sales added to regular sales reduced the amount that Consumers Distributing owed to banking institutions to $46 million.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://collections.banq.qc.ca/biblio/js/pdfjs/pdfjs-1.6.210-dist_banq/web/pdf.php/523272182496.pdf|title=Les banques forcent la faillite de DAC|website=[[Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec|BAnQ]]|publisher=[[La Presse (Canadian newspaper)|La Presse]]|date=September 7, 1996|page=F4}}</ref> In October 1996, Consumers Distributing went to [[bankruptcy]] and liquidated its remaining stores from October 16, 1996.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://collections.banq.qc.ca/biblio/js/pdfjs/pdfjs-1.6.210-dist_banq/web/pdf.php/523272182715.pdf|title=Vente de faillite de Distribution aux consommateurs|website=[[Bibliothèque et Archives nationales du Québec|BAnQ]]|publisher=[[La Presse (Canadian newspaper)|La Presse]]|date=October 15, 1996|page=D8}}</ref>

Ten years following the bankruptcy, former Consumers Distributing employee Marc King relaunched the company as an online retailer. The new Consumers Distributing website operated in the run up to the 2012 holiday season, taking orders for furniture and brand-name electronics, but the site was shuttered in January 2013, and King was accused of owing back wages to employees.<ref name="woes"/> In May 2015, the company was issued a compliance order by Consumer Protection BC for deceptive acts and practices and for failing to issue refunds.<ref>{{cite web |title=Vancouver, BC business faces compliance order, administrative penalty from Consumer Protection BC |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171212032052/www.consumerprotectionbc.ca/news/vancouver-bc-business-faces-compliance-order-administrative-penalty-consumer-protection-bc/ |publisher=Consumer Protection BC |date=May 27, 2015 |accessdate=December 11, 2017}}</ref> The regulator reopened the investigation in October 2016 when it received a new complaint, noting that the company still had not paid penalties from the prior investigation.<ref>{{cite web |title=Consumer Protection BC reopens investigation; impacted consumers asked to come forward |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171212031819/www.consumerprotectionbc.ca/news/consumer-protection-bc-reopens-investigation-impacted-consumers-asked-come-forward/ |publisher=Consumer Protection BC |date=October 31, 2016 |accessdate=December 11, 2017}}</ref>