THE SCOOP ERA ENDS AS RETAILER BEGINS SHUTTERING ALL STORES

Scoop NYC, a 20-year-old retailer of high-end contemporary merchandise, is in the process of shutting down all of its stores, having run out of funds to continue staying in business, MR has confirmed.

According to a company spokesperson, not only is Scoop short of cash to maintain operations, but a secured lender has a lien on most of the company’s assets.

The company has already shuttered its New York flagship in SoHo, and will be liquidating merchandise at all other stores over the next few weeks, with sales having already begun at these venues. Scoop most recently opened a branch at Brookfield Place in downtown Manhattan. It also has New York City branches on the Upper East Side and in the Meatpacking District, along with stores in East Hampton, Greenvale, N.Y.; Brentwood, Beverly Hills, Bal Harbour, Atlanta; Chicago; Boston, Las Vegas, and Dallas.

Scoop carried such prominent designers for men as Vince, Todd Snyder for Champion, Rag & Bone, Belstaff, and AG, and had begun to offer private-label clothing and accessories, especially for women. However, many of those brands opened their own retail stores, and were also carried at larger specialty stores including Barney’s, Bloomingdale’s, and Bergdorf Goodman.

The company was founded in 1996 by Stefani Greenfield and Uzi Ben-Abraham, and was acquired by Ron Burkle’s Yucaipa Cos. in 2007. Susan Davidson, a veteran of Liz Claiborne, was named CEO in 2009, a position she still retains.

“It is a definitely the end of an era,” said the company spokesperson.