How To Close A Store

Big retailers often hire one or more liquidation companies to handle store shutdowns. Bradley Snyder, the executive managing director of Tiger Capital Group, says that his team decides how much and when the goods will be marked down, effectively taking over management of a store during its closing months. Tiger Capital worked with Gordon Brothers on Sports Authority’s store closures after its bankruptcy. It’s currently winding down stores for Bebe and Payless with Great American Group, another liquidator. “Because we liquidate so much, we know what things sell for, whether that’s 30 percent or 90 percent off. When we did Macy’s, we had a bunch of Apple Watches, which never go on sale. So if you discount them 5 percent, they’ll sell,” says Snyder. Tiger Capital brings in its own supervisor to work with the store’s existing management on a day-to-day basis, and it hires seasonal retail workers in anticipation of holiday-like swarms of shoppers. As inventory depletes, the company might consolidate stores, moving leftover product to the locations with the best foot traffic. The game is to have employees constantly reorganize the space to make it look as polished and inviting as possible, Snyder says, particularly when the retailer in question is staying in business. Closing underperforming stores can improve a brand’s health, but doing so puts it at risk of looking cheap and damaging its reputation. Read more at Racked.