Canadian retailers can’t catch a break.
Today it was announced that Shoes.com – the Vancouver-based e-tailer that owns Shoes.com, Onlineshoes.com, and Shoeme.ca – has shut down all operations, including two brick-and-mortar locations in Vancouver and Toronto, due to bankruptcy.
Employees were alerted about the decision this morning and are said to have been compensated through the end of the month. Shoes.com is working with its secured lenders to determine how the assets will be liquidated.
The bankruptcy comes to a surprise to many.
After launching in 2012, Shoes.com became Canada’s fastest growing e-commerce company, growing sales by 150 percent between 2014 and 2015. In 2015, annual revenues were over $200 million and that same year, Shoes.com launched their very first physical location on Toronto’s Queen St. West. A Vancouver brick-and-mortar store opened shortly after.
The retailer launched a number of initiatives to help drive sales including influencer outreach and constant markdowns. In-store, they worked with local vendors to bring in non-competing products. One vendor that partook in the program tells us that merchandise was brought in on consignment, but that many vendors opted to pull out of the program due to Shoes.com’s inability to pay vendors in a timely manner, if at all.
We are sad to see another Canadian retailer go and it makes us wonder what it really takes for a brand to survive in the current retail landscape.
We’ll keep you updated as more information becomes available.
Are you sad to see Shoes.com go?
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