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My guess is that MEC is dead and gone before the end of the decade. There's only one reason equity firms buy iconic yet struggling retailers; that's to use the retailer as leverage to borrow money, and then when the husk of MEC has no more equity to strip, it's closed or sold on. That's ToysR US and many others' story.


They didn't buy MEC to rescue a brand and see it to a profitable and sustainable future. Private equity firms need fast ROI, so buy it cheap, strip out and liquidate anything that can be sold, dump the shell.
 
My guess is that MEC is dead and gone before the end of the decade. There's only one reason equity firms buy iconic yet struggling retailers; that's to use the retailer as leverage to borrow money, and then when the husk of MEC has no more equity to strip, it's closed or sold on. That's ToysR US and many others' story.


They didn't buy MEC to rescue a brand and see it to a profitable and sustainable future. Private equity firms need fast ROI, so buy it cheap, strip out and liquidate anything that can be sold, dump the shell.

JCrew, Fairway grocery stores, the list goes on. Private Equity's intrusion into retail has been harmful to front line retail workers and consumer choice.
 
I only have a couple of data points for things I was looking for, but MEC seems to be out of stock on some basic items. The website doesn't list them as out of stock, it just no longer has them listed at all. Not a good sign because once you can't rely on a retail to have things, you stop looking there first.
 
MEC to lay off fewer employees than planned with one store to close, say new owners

October 9, 2020

Mountain Equipment Co-op says it will be letting go of fewer employees than previously planned with just one store set to close following its takeover by a U.S. private investment firm.

The Vancouver-based company says that 85 per cent of its active workforce will remain on the job once the deal closes, up from a minimum of 75 per cent that Kingswood Capital Management Ltd previously indicated.

MEC had 1,516 employees as of Sept. 7, including 1,143 who were active mostly in B.C. and Ontario, according to a monitor's report when it was under creditor protection.

The report also said it had 197 workers on leave and 176 on layoff.

Kingswood plans to keep 21 of its 22 stores open, up from its original plan for a minimum of 17 stores.

After struggling with sluggish sales, inventory issues and increasing online competition, MEC filed for creditor protection on Sept. 14 and announced its sale to a Canadian subsidiary of Los Angeles-based Kingswood.

 
My guess is that MEC is dead and gone before the end of the decade. There's only one reason equity firms buy iconic yet struggling retailers; that's to use the retailer as leverage to borrow money, and then when the husk of MEC has no more equity to strip, it's closed or sold on. That's ToysR US and many others' story.


They didn't buy MEC to rescue a brand and see it to a profitable and sustainable future. Private equity firms need fast ROI, so buy it cheap, strip out and liquidate anything that can be sold, dump the shell.

Just like the Mafia. :p
 

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