One of the most popular traditions at any wedding ceremony is the tossing of the garter belt to the unmarried men present. But how did this tradition come about?
Whitehall Gets Purchased?
Whitehall gets interim funding.
Whitehall jewelers received approval from the bankruptcy court in Delware for interim funding of $22M of the $80M of debtor-in-possession financing on June 24th 2008. A court date of July 18th 2008 has been set for the final hearing. Read More…
Commentary: Whitehall purchase in the cards?
For the very short term, Chicago based Whitehall Jewelers will be able to continue operations. The question now is what’s next?
Back in 2005 Whitehall Jewelers was “saved” by a significant investment by Prentice Capital; a New York based hedge fund after an accounting scandal crippled the company. An opportunity to right a failing ship and reestablish its niche in the market. An opportunity that initially seemed to be taking shape when Robert Baumgardner was brought on board as the new CEO November 2005.
Unfortunately, Mr. Baumgardner’s vision was short lived as he was replaced by Ed Dayoob in September 2006. Mr. Dayoob was brought on board to put an experienced team in place to position the company for success going forward. He did bring an experienced team on board and also positioned the company directly into the teeth of some of the stiffest competition and target a market, albeit arguably the largest, that would be most affected by tough economic times.
Will Whitehall be purchased or scuttled to salvage what can be had? I’d like to see them purchased and believe that it’s not a farfetched idea. They have a new distribution center with a high capacity vault and secure elevator system able to handle a large number of stores, many good retail locations, and provide an opportunity for someone to further their market presence or establish one. Perhaps this is a good opportunity for a jewelry company rather than company looking to “make a buck” to take control.
Whitehall needs to stand out as someplace different that is able to provide something unique and different if it’s given another chance to succeed. It needs to carve and establish its own niche in the marketplace and not try and “do what they did”. Many will say not to argue with success but success in the past is not indicative of success in the future. Times change and being “one of the crowd” can often leave you as an “also ran” instead of a leader.
UPDATE 07-02-2008…
The following comment was made on JCK blog…
July 1, 2008
In response to:Who Will Buy … Whitehall’s?
nooneimportant commented:All the USA companies are out of the running to acquire Whithall, most likely. I would be looking overseas for the potential buyers — remember Samuels and Rogers? India is making inroads by taking advantage of situations like this.
The company that bought Samuels in December of 2006 and Rogers in November of 2007 is Gitanjali Group Ltd in India. Executive Director, G.K. Nair has commented that…
“What we are trying to make in America is a 300-400 size chain…so that it becomes a very economical model to work on,” said Nair, adding the company would be on the lookout for more acquisitions in the U.S.
Gitanjali, according to a JCK online article…
Its goal is 175 stores by the first half of next year and 400 stores by 2009. To that end, it plans two major retail acquisitions in the next 18 months, says Nehal Modi, CEO of Gitanjali USA.
While Samuels and Rogers will function as stand-alone brands, Modi says management headquarters will be merged by the end of next year. “We don’t know yet which one will take over … until we can assess the management and business practices [of each].”
Will a pared down Whitehall be purchased by the Gitanjali Group? Based upon what I’m reading it seems to make sense.
UPDATE 2: 07-04-2008
It is being reported that the Gitanjali Group does indeed have plans in the works to buy out Whitehall Jewelers, reportedly for between $81M-$92.5M. Read more…
Tags: Gitanjali, Whitehall, Whitehall Jewelers
