Half of Boscov's major suppliers had stopped making deliveries because of lack of payment, the newspaper said. Lakin told the Pittsburgh Tribune Review over the weekend that some suppliers had stopped shipments but that the company "was going to get right with them as quickly as we can." Lakin said he expected the stores to be filled with back-to-school inventory. Yesterday he declined to discuss issues with vendors.
Lakin said the company wanted to avoid bankruptcy.
"It's something you want to avoid and try to avoid but it's a specter that is out there," Lakin said. "Every firm faces the possibility. It's something you want to avoid at all costs."
Retail experts said that it's a tough time for all retailers, particularly department stores, as high gas and food prices have cut into people's budgets.
"Department store performance is horrendous," said Howard Davidowitz, chairman of Davidowitz & Associates, a retail brokerage and consulting firm. "Here is Boscov's selling discretionary and home products during one of the toughest credit environments in 100 years."
Some of the Baltimore locations Boscov's acquired are in underperforming malls, said Mark Millman, president of Millman Search Group, an Owings Mills executive search firm specializing in retail.
"They took a lot of real estate and some of it wasn't prime at all," Millman said.
andrea.walker@baltsun.com
