BY AUBYN NIEMI, Medill News Service, Times of Northwest Indiana
Chernin's Shoe Outlet LLC, a long-standing Chicago business with a location in Gary, plans to close.
After struggling for years, the low-price retailer filed for liquidation this week under Chapter 7 of the Bankruptcy Code.
Chernin's operates 19 stores in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Missouri, Tennessee and Maryland and a warehouse in Chicago, court documents show.
The company intends to sell its assets, valued between $500,001 and $1 million, and pay the proceeds to its creditors, who are owed somewhere between $1 million and $10 million, court filings indicate.
On Tuesday, Chernin's filed a Notice of Meeting of Creditors scheduled for March 12. In its petition, the company listed 170 creditors, including many Chicago-area companies such as Amcore Financial Inc. and Sun-Times Media Group Inc.
Both Chernin's Chief Executive Randy Shifrin, the largest shareholder, and company attorney Chad Gettleman, of Adelman Gettleman Ltd., were unavailable for comment.
The liquidation petition is not uncommon among local businesses these days, as such Chapter 7 filings rose 60 percent last year in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Chicago, according to the 2008 annual report released by the office of Clerk of Court Kenneth Gardner.
Chernin's, which was founded in 1907, filed for Chapter 11 protection from creditors in 1999 in hopes of restructuring the company. At the time, under different management, the company listed $18 million in assets and $29 million in debts.
The company subsequently expanded further, opening four new stores in 2002 and eight in 2003.