Struggling Western Canadian retailer a&b sound has officially announced its filing for bankruptcy protection.
A note written by MacKay & Company Ltd., trustee in bankruptcy that appears on the company Website (www.absound.ca) indicates that while the organization attempted to turn the company's business around, it was unable to do so.
"We take this opportunity to thank all of a&b's loyal customers for their patronage over the years, as well as the employees for their loyal and dedicated service," reads the note.
All existing inventory will be sold off through the one remaining Abbotsford location at 2369 McCallum Rd. Details of the liquidation will be posted to the Website once they are finalized, while employees and creditors will soon receive packages explaining the bankruptcy process.
a&b sound originally filed for bankruptcy in January 2005. Despite earlier reportings that a&b sound had joined the Groupe Dumoulin/Audiotronic fold, the company's President & CEO Marc Mercier tells Marketnews' Shop Talk columnist Wally Hucker that that deal had never been finalized. In fact, he advises that it was actually called off about two months ago. In August of this year, a&b sound was already down to just five remaining locations, having just closed another two locations in Vancouver.
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44 comments »
Audioguy December 03, 2008, 00:00 am
A little more info on how PG treated his employees... A&B had benefits deducted for November coverage through Manulife and Pacific Blue Cross. Guess when Manulife coverage was terminated? October 31. Any of their employees looking to get interim health coverage in Alberta have missed the 30 day window for application if they thought their coverage went to November 30. Paul, the level to which you astound me with your ability to screw people over grows daily.
R.I.P. November 28, 2008, 00:00 am
This is a quote from documents put forward to creditors...........Seanix Plan and Offer is Superior to Sun Capital Because...........Sun Cap appears to be relying on existing senior management;'they couldn't get the job done in the past, on what basis will they be able to make A&B successful in the future? SEANIX WILL RELY ON IT'S SEASONED MANAGEMENT TEAM. We have better knowledge of the hardware business, which is where a&b is likely to grow. We have SUPERIOR knowledge of the Western Canadian market place and better understand consumer preferences in this market. We have experience to be lean and compete with the large multinational players , we understand how to be different and compete....................................the creditors bought this....................Doesn't this just crack you up?
R.I.P. November 28, 2008, 00:00 am
You can find all the interesting stuff at the link below. http://www.kpmg.ca/en/ms/cl/472011/
indabiz November 28, 2008, 00:00 am
It looks like Seanix is going down too. There should be an announcement very soon. I guess no amount of mommy's dough can compensate for a room temperature IQ eh?
Shame November 27, 2008, 00:00 am
When Girard took over the company, there was no strategy. Anyone inside will tell you that if there were 8 days in a week, he would have changed strategy 8 times in a week. Every day was an adventure. If he wanted to go up against the big boys FS and BB and others, it required some understanding of the strengths that a&b had in the market and how to capitalize on them, rebuild the brand (which still had some value at the time), rebuild customer confidence, support the staff, keep the profile up and so on. He never did really take the time to find out anything about the culture of the a&b customer or staff and then use some of the amazing brainpower and industry knowledge to bring some of the lustre back. It is a lesson for any business. You have to go to the front line and spend the time before making drastic changes. Sure the CD and DVD industry was/is going through drastic changes, FS & BB are formidable competitors, but as in any industry, there are going to be survivors - companies that learn to adapt and develop products and services in their niche to capture market share. The foundation was there with a&b when he took it over, but it crumbled under the weight of his ego. Shame.
People are enjoying this November 26, 2008, 00:00 am
In da biz.....in da dark. First off Nick's wrecking crew had nothing to do with the selection in the music division and the reduction of ''the oldies.'' The market decided that they didn't want /need or had already replaced their vinyl with CD.Secondly there are these things called MP3 'S that people got really excited about( mostly because of price and convenience) and last but not least you should compare the top 40 in music ( very skinny margin but some margin) to somet of the CE product that was being sold that represented a large percentage of the dollar volume at very thin margins. DVD players, Home Theatre in a Box, FLAT PANEL TV, ( COMMISSION WAS PAID ON THESE LOW MARGIN ITEMS WHICH NETTED THEM EVEN LOWER). My friend it was a recipe for disaster that could not be avoided. PG should have done his homework before he decided to make his 10m$ mistake.Nick made the right decision and got out and you were not the only one who invested time and energy to make a&b what it once was.These are the facts pal.
indabiz November 26, 2008, 00:00 am
I don't know where In da dark was through the 90's but we had these low margin things called tube TVs and VCRs that were heavily promoted and sold in the stores. We even had things called "sales" where the margins shrank even further and these all existed when the company was growing. They were part of a strategy whereby you maximised profits when possible and sold other commodity items for what you needed to in order to be competitive and avoid sending your customer to a competitor. VIR and other back-end considerations kept things afloat on those products. Oh yeah, commissions were paid on all of it. As you said, I was far from the only one who worked hard. I'm sure you probably had a very trying time making sure Nick's coffee cup was full and that he had a nice little foot massage when needed.
worked@a&b November 26, 2008, 00:00 am
As of Nov 7th , 2008 A&B Sound is no longer a company. Many staff lost jobs with no payout & many companies were left holding A&B Sound's bill. While I'm sure many people are angry, upset, sad ect... it's time to move on. Only one person knows why PG did what he did, and thats him. Hopefully the people who lost jobs are well on their way to recovery and moving on to a better life. Cheers, it was a fun ride!
People are enjoying this November 26, 2008, 00:00 am
In da biz ....................I was probably your boss back in the 90's and although you think I may have been getting Nick his coffee and giving him a foot massage I would think you as a salesperson were probably massaging his *ss with your nose. The comments I made above were in reference to the period just before their ''sale'' to Seanix. If you disagree with those facts I can't help you and maybe you should wind forward about 10 years . It's 2008! I look forward to your next witty response.
Eightgoodandbadyearsofmylife November 25, 2008, 00:00 am
Can someone explain to me what that means? Secured & unsecured? I'm not too up and up on legalese.
Simple explanation November 25, 2008, 00:00 am
In the Dark.......Secured basically means first in line. Usuallly it is a bank but in this case it looks like Seanix was the bank. They will likely get all of the proceeds from the assets sold. ( 1.2 m out of 8.9m)Unsecured means there is no line and filing a claim is likely the end of the process. That's how I interpret this one....I hope for the sake of the creditors that I am wrong. It appears that all of the suppliers were dealing with them on a cash and carry basis as there is no CE SUPPLIERS ON THE CREDITORS LIST. This result should surprise no one if that's the case. They must have really p*ssed the suppliers off.
indabiz November 25, 2008, 00:00 am
Just can't resist one last bitty screed. I was never a supplier to a&b of anything but time & energy and I'm not particularly greedy. I was close enough to head office to understand a lot of the dynamics of the wind-up and kept an interested eye on the new guy. I don't harbour any personal ill will to PG because I never (thank god) worked for him - I'm just amused by his inability to accept his total inadequacy as a retailer. a&b's music sales were about 50% of the gross in some of the big urban stores (much less in the smaller locations) but never approached half of the profit. As A matter of fact, top 40 wasn't profitable at all hence the depth of back catalog that enabled a profit. When Nick's wrecking crew came in, axing back catalog was one of the first things done and that made it impossible to maintain any kind of margin for that side of the business. The next domino was the defection of the folks who bought the oldies. They had dough, were willing to part with it and also bought the higher priced, higher margin electronics. See where this is going? Have a nice day.
So True November 25, 2008, 00:00 am
"Simple explanation" is right on some aspects between the Secured & Un-Secured creditors. On the technical front, secured debt is often "tied" to or backed by a piece of equity or collateral (inventory, real estate, or any physical property), - secured creditor is first in line to negotiate a settlement against this equity with the bankruptcy trustee. The unsecured creditor is really at the mercy of the bankruptcy trustee, as after the settlement (or liquidation) there may not be much left to divide among the unsecured people - not a fun position to be in...
indabiz November 24, 2008, 00:00 am
My last comment here. Sour Grapes - "the west all to themselves..." Multitech Warehouse (or Krazy Krazy), Video Only, AVU, Future Shop, Soundaround, Visions and the multitude of independent single-store dealers. So much for that. And you're not pitiable because, of course, we all know that being wealthy is in and of itself admirable.
People are enjoying this November 24, 2008, 00:00 am
In da biz....I'm guessing the ''biz '' you are in is the CE biz.When a&b had the west all to them selves the biggest part of that was the music biz.In their glory days music was 1/2 the biz. The other retailers you mentioned would have died to have the traffic that a&b had. It sounds like you are one of the greedy suppliers that got burned the first time around. It's been awhile now so I'm guessing that your nose is probably clean!! and by the way I hope it isn't your last post here.
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