Hacketts closing its store in Massena
REORGANIZATION: CEO says joint liquidation sale at Ogdensburg, closing of rental business part of plan
By BRIAN KIDWELL
JOHNSON NEWSPAPERS
FRIDAY, JUNE 25, 2010
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OGDENSBURG — Hacketts will close its Massena store next week and send all of its inventory to the retailer's flagship Ogdensburg store for a joint liquidation sale.
Herbert L. Becker, chief executive officer of Patrick Hackett Hardware, said Thursday that the Ogdensburg store will not close, although the equipment-rental section will be shut down. He said the volume of merchandise on hand from the combined stores will allow the store to stay open through the summer.
The liquidation will offer 90 percent discounts and cover all of the inventory at the 1223 Pickering St. store.
"We are liquidating everything in the store," Mr. Becker said. "We want to make room for new product coming in the fall. We will stay open during the liquidation and will have a grand reopening in the fall."
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When the Canton and Ogdensburg stores receive the new merchandise, the Hacketts name will be dropped permanently in favor of a new one, Mr. Becker said. He declined to disclose the new name.
The Massena store, in the St. Lawrence Centre mall, will close Monday. It employs three workers. Mr. Becker declined to speculate on whether it will ever reopen.
"I can't answer that question," he said. "I have no comment on that."
He said the decision to pull the plug on the rental department of the Ogdensburg store came about after talking with customers.
"For the most part, our customers are telling us that this is something we have no need for any longer," he said.
The retailer's Canton store, at 19 Miner St., was closed for the summer over Memorial Day and will reopen Labor Day. Mr. Becker said that "seasonal" closings are common.
Hacketts has a store in Sackets Harbor that in the past has been open only in the summer. That store has not reopened this year.
The Ogdensburg store underwent an all-inventory liquidation in January. Such high-end apparel labels as The North Face, Columbia, Woolrich, Lee, Point Zero and Adidas remained in stock and a "mid-line" group of less expensive labels was brought in.
"We did bring in high-end clothing labels and have done OK with it," Mr. Becker said, "and have done well with mid-line apparel."
But Mr. Becker said it was "too soon to say" whether those high-end labels will be part of the new inventory.
Unsuccessful, however, was a plan to bring in a new hardware supplier, 5 Star Hardware.
"We were not able to sign on with 5 Star," Mr. Becker said, adding that the store has "a little" hardware in stock.
He said the liquidation, store closing and seasonal shutdown are part of a reorganization plan that was submitted to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court on Monday.
However, the 18-page reorganization plan does not mention the liquidation sale, seasonal shutdown or store closing. A disclosure statement accompanying the plan says that the stores traditionally are open year-around.
