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Vann's is going to close it's doors forever

post #1 of 22
Thread Starter 
It seems as though Vann's will not be emerging from bankruptcy after all...

By Alan Wolf On Sep 24 2012 - 3:50pm

Missoula, Mont. – Vann’s, the 51-year-old A/V and majap chain, will begin liquidating its assets next month after failing to obtain sufficient funding to emerge from bankruptcy.

The Montana-based chain filed for Chapter 11 protection on Aug. 5, but could not convince lenders to extend an additional $3 million to $5 million, which recently named CEO Jerry McConnell deemed necessary to keep the business afloat.

“We’ve reached the point where we have to admit we can’t make this work in today’s economy,” McConnell said in a statement.

Vann’s informed the U.S. bankruptcy court in Butte, Mont., of its plans last Wednesday, and has given employees a 60-day layoff notice.

“Our analysis shows that the company might have been able to make it, but only with an infusion of an additional three to five million dollars, which just isn’t in the cards,” McConnell said. “We looked at other scenarios, too … but the way our sales have been falling off lately those strategies didn’t pencil out.”

A restructuring team is developing wind-down and sale alternatives which will be presented to the bankruptcy court by the first week of October. Going-out-of-business sales are likely to begin soon after, the company said.

McConnell told the local Missoulian newspaper that inventory will likely last through November, after which all stores will be closed.
post #2 of 22
Quote:
Originally Posted by JimWilson View Post

It seems as though Vann's will not be emerging from bankruptcy after all...
By Alan Wolf On Sep 24 2012 - 3:50pm
Missoula, Mont. – Vann’s, the 51-year-old A/V and majap chain, will begin liquidating its assets next month after failing to obtain sufficient funding to emerge from bankruptcy.
The Montana-based chain filed for Chapter 11 protection on Aug. 5, but could not convince lenders to extend an additional $3 million to $5 million, which recently named CEO Jerry McConnell deemed necessary to keep the business afloat.
“We’ve reached the point where we have to admit we can’t make this work in today’s economy,” McConnell said in a statement.
Vann’s informed the U.S. bankruptcy court in Butte, Mont., of its plans last Wednesday, and has given employees a 60-day layoff notice.
“Our analysis shows that the company might have been able to make it, but only with an infusion of an additional three to five million dollars, which just isn’t in the cards,” McConnell said. “We looked at other scenarios, too … but the way our sales have been falling off lately those strategies didn’t pencil out.”
A restructuring team is developing wind-down and sale alternatives which will be presented to the bankruptcy court by the first week of October. Going-out-of-business sales are likely to begin soon after, the company said.
McConnell told the local Missoulian newspaper that inventory will likely last through November, after which all stores will be closed.
Never understand why these places have so many problems. Seems like one closes and another opens. I have never seen a Vanns on the East coast, but I have watched many electronic stores come and go over the years around here. I remember Silo, Circuit City, Tweeter, Crazy Eddies and the Wiz. I would just assume that online companies along with the ID's are taking away the market share.
post #3 of 22
Quote:
Originally Posted by Reefdvr27 View Post

Never understand why these places have so many problems. Seems like one closes and another opens. I have never seen a Vanns on the East coast, but I have watched many electronic stores come and go over the years around here. I remember Silo, Circuit City, Tweeter, Crazy Eddies and the Wiz. I would just assume that online companies along with the ID's are taking away the market share.

Oddly enough, online, we recently (last couple of months) purchased our AVR upgrade from Vann's and I would characterized the transaction as a very positive experience. With this purchase in mind, not trying to be mean or antagonistic in my comments, in real terms, this is the same thing that happened to buggy whip manufactures with the growth of the horseless carriage. Today's business model includes ID as does the department store business model (brick-n-mortar/mom-n-pop) which includes competition from the likes of Amazon, Tiger Direct. et al. The point, there's only so much market share to be divided up among consumers and in the simple, being pragmatic and not philosophical, the future is in internet sales and good or bad, depending on what side of the issue one sits, for us, the future is now.

FWIW, today, UPS delivered some jam making materials that I can't get in a local store and what I can get in the local grocery store is prohibitively expensive to the point, that I cannot use our local grocery store for jam making materials or the stocked materials are not of the kind I can use. So, I turned to Amazon for a solution. We shop at the local grocery store as we can but most of our shopping is done twenty-three miles away at a Costco vs our local store because we can't afford local prices. The point, some of the problem is brought on by the local stores themselves as consumers only have so much money for local necessities such as food. For us the consumer, the online shopping experience has most certainly added to our quality of life.

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Edited by BeeMan458 - 9/25/12 at 10:44am
post #4 of 22
Thread Starter 
I've bought from them as well, and didn't have any problems either. What a shame...
post #5 of 22
ditto! I have bought from the clearance section a lot and have always been happy!
post #6 of 22
Another one bites the dust. So sad, so sad.....


Sad.gif



Ian
post #7 of 22
They basically GAVE away the store, i have picked up about 18,000 in AV gear for about 5000 k. It was bound to happen, heck, where can u get 10,000 speakers for one third of the price?!...that also went for HDTV's. I noticed they raised their prices about 3 months ago and i already found another place to buy bulk BD players again for about 30-40 each delivered..just like Vans used to do.
post #8 of 22
Straight-up tragic, no winners here. I feel kinda bad for online deal-chasers who never got to experience the quality of Vann's customer service. Toward the end of my upgrades, I was looking for reasons to shop there.

Also, I don't agree at all that their lack of interest in internet-direct product had anything to do with their failure to establish a line of credit. ID is big around here, but it's got to be a tiny fraction of total electronics sales--don't you find yourself repeatedly explaining it to everybody? Nobody knows about ID, except us heads.
post #9 of 22
Sorry to read about there going out of business.
Just got a great closeout deal on my Onkyo TX-NR3009 receiver from them back in July.
Oh well, sad news for the employees about to be let go.
Especially now with the holidays right around the corner.
post #10 of 22
Quote:
Originally Posted by matrixj3 View Post

They basically GAVE away the store, i have picked up about 18,000 in AV gear for about 5000 k. It was bound to happen, heck, where can u get 10,000 speakers for one third of the price?!...that also went for HDTV's. I noticed they raised their prices about 3 months ago and i already found another place to buy bulk BD players again for about 30-40 each delivered..just like Vans used to do.

And who might that be?
post #11 of 22
Hmmmm

I too always liked vann's

I'll be watching the close out deals in the coming weeks as well.
post #12 of 22
That stinks. I've bought many items from them. Their prices were great and always free shipping. Maybe they didn't charge enough.
post #13 of 22
Wow that sucks. I too purchased a number of items from them. Mainly from Jamo which had great deals including a 5.0 speaker system for my brothers birthday gift. I also talked a couple of people Into shopping with Vanns just the other day. Hope all goes well with their purchase. I'm going to miss Vanns.
post #14 of 22
Yeah it is a shame. I have bought thousands of dollars worth of gear from Vanns and always had a positive experience. I will make another purchase before they close for good. I could use another pair of rc-10s and they are the only place I can find them.
post #15 of 22
Me, too. I have nine Energy speakers and a Mirage Prestige sub that came from Vanns. Also bought two pairs of other speakers for family members as presents. Too bad they are going frown.gif
post #16 of 22
I bought a Velodyne SMS-1 and Jamo C series speakers from them at great prices in the last few months. Will be missed for sure.
post #17 of 22
I have bought many many items from them dating back many years. It was always new with Manufacture warranty (something you don't often get with Ebay sellers). And very low prices. Really a shame they can't make it. A fine, reputable company. Can Abe's of Maine, Accessories 4 Less and others be far behind?
post #18 of 22
Quote:
Originally Posted by JAR5197 View Post

I have bought many many items from them dating back many years. It was always new with Manufacture warranty (something you don't often get with Ebay sellers). And very low prices. Really a shame they can't make it. A fine, reputable company. Can Abe's of Maine, Accessories 4 Less and others be far behind?

I'm going guess no they won't as Vann's was a brick-n-mortar store that added an online presence where as vendors such as Accessories4less, IIRC, is solely an online store. Vann's couldn't get any financing so they don't have the needed money to restructure. This goes to politics and banks not lending money. And as everybody knows, if you don't need the money, that's when banks want to hook you up.
post #19 of 22
Quote:
Originally Posted by BeeMan458 View Post

I'm going guess no they won't as Vann's was a brick-n-mortar store that added an online presence where as vendors such as Accessories4less, IIRC, is solely an online store. Vann's couldn't get any financing so they don't have the needed money to restructure. This goes to politics and banks not lending money. And as everybody knows, if you don't need the money, that's when banks want to hook you up.

i'm going to venture, and say that where they are located (western montana) another words middle of nowhere in the mountains couldn't of helped them for relying on walk-in traffic. maybe most of their sales was via the net, but i don't think so because they sell large appliances to. who knows it is sad though...
post #20 of 22
Thread Starter 
A new twist in the story might result in a reprieve.
post #21 of 22
Quote:
Originally Posted by JimWilson View Post

A new twist in the story might result in a reprieve.

Ermahgerd, kep herp alerve
post #22 of 22
I just bought klipsch 3 SW310 subs and one was not working and sent one back hope they send me another sub..................rolleyes.gif
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