d2b2 Loc: Catonsville, Maryland, USA

I went to the local Calumet store for their "going out of business" sale, and spoke to several of the employees. I heard a side of the closing that I had not heard before.

Apparently - according to them - the chain was not losing huge amounts of money. The ownership drained the business of money and took it overseas. They purposefully killed the Calumet chain and reopened under a new, foreign name, and will soon be opening an identical concept in Europe, where profit margins are much higher, than here. They do not have the Costco and Best Buy competition to deal with over there, and so margins are wide, for lack of competition.

I do not know this for a fact, but the people who worked there were adamant about their statements, to this effect.

One Rude Dawg Loc: Athol, ID

Would not be the first to do it, it is all bottom line these days.

MT Shooter Loc: Montana

Calumet still exists in Europe as Calumet, only the US operations were shut down.
A very interesting side note is that a group of the original executives of Calumet USA have made an offer to purchase the entire USA operation that the bankruptcy court is currently considering. Only time will reveal the REAL story.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

This has happened many times.

NYjoe Loc: US/UK

Are you surprised? Responsible capitalism devolved into Greedism years ago and many corporately purchased politicians smoothed the way....my humble opinion.

Prairimages

NY Joe: IMHO: Agree(d)

d2b2 Loc: Catonsville, Maryland, USA

No argument with any statements made here. The question may be, was the Company purposefully drained and the bankruptcy contrived? Makes no never mind to any of us...just interesting.

MT Shooter Loc: Montana

It wouldn't be the first time.

erbPIX Loc: Greater New York City area

:thumbup:

CharlesA Loc: New Jersey

Not to beat a dead horse here, but this whole episode and others like it just prove that corporations are NOT people (not a political statement, read on). They are a seperate entity altogether and none of the principals are ever held to account for their disastrous business decisions. They can drain the coffers into their personal accounts and live like royalty and be immune to any negative impact of the bankruptcy. They then get together and do it all over again as is apparently the case with Calumet.

I believe if you are a "principal" in a corporation, especially those in decision making, and your company goes bust, there should be a law preventing you from having anything to do with starting a new business for let's say 5 years, maybe 10. This wouldn't stop people from making a living, but it might make bankruptcy a lot less of a "fail-safe" type of parachute. It would definitely encourage corporations to better consider reorganization rather than dissolution.

I have worked for companies that did the exact same maneuver, go bankrupt one day and re-emerge in a couple of months under a new banner. In the process there were many suppliers who got stuck with non-payments, some of whom were small-time businesses, as well as the employees who were left twisting in the wind.

The whole Calumet incident is allowed by law but, boy, it stinks to High-Heaven. I can only hope that the people behind these shenanigans get precisely what they deserve going forward.

Charles

NYjoe Loc: US/UK

Vote accordingly....unless that too is a corporate aquisition. If so, move to NZ.