Weiner's Stores, Inc., was a clothing retailer with its headquarters in Spring Branch and in

Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

.Boundary Map
" ''Spring Branch Management District''. Retrieved on December 8, 2009.

History

Weiner's was founded by Isidore Weiner in 1926.
" Weiner's. October 26, 2000. Retrieved on February 25, 2010. Weiner was an immigrant from

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

.Hassell, Greg and Deidra M. Lemons.
Liquidation ahead / Weiner's chain goes under; 33 stores in area will close
" ''

Houston Chronicle The ''Houston Chronicle'' is the largest daily newspaper in Houston, Texas, United States. , it is the third-largest newspaper by Sunday circulation in the United States, behind only ''The New York Times'' and the ''Los Angeles Times''. With it ...

''. Wednesday June 27, 2001. Business 1. Retrieved on February 25, 2010. The first shop was located on what was then the outskirts of Houston. In 1932 the firm filed for bankruptcy during the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

. Greg Hassell and Deidra M. Lemons of the ''

'' said that Weiner's achieved "its zenith" in 1994, when it had 158 locations. Its locations were in Texas and Louisiana. In 1995 the company received a lot of debt and began cutting locations. It filed for

Chapter 11 Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code (Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, wheth ...

bankruptcy in April 1995, ended 27 locations, and unloaded $40 million worth of old merchandise that was in its warehouses. In August 1997 the company emerged from bankruptcy protection. The store chain itself had a hard time competing against big box retailers that were rapidly expanding into the area like

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...

and

Target Target may refer to: Physical items * Shooting target, used in marksmanship training and various shooting sports ** Bullseye (target), the goal one for which one aims in many of these sports ** Aiming point, in field artillery, fi ...

, and also with the advent of

online shopping Online shopping is a form of electronic commerce which allows consumers to directly buy goods or services from a seller over the Internet using a web browser or a mobile app. Consumers find a product of interest by visiting the website of the r ...

and the rise of household

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

use, Weiner's also suffered as they were slow to adopt online retail. In October 2000 the company declared bankruptcy again. The company announced that it was closing 44 of the 141 stores that it was operating at the time. The bankruptcy protection filing was due to decreasing sales of name brand products. According to Weiner's spokesperson Lee Butler, since 1995, Weiner's had not achieved profitability at all. The ''

Houston Business Journal American City Business Journals, Inc. (ACBJ) is an American newspaper publisher based in Charlotte, North Carolina. ACBJ publishes The Business Journals, which contains local business news for 44 markets in the United States, Hemmings Motor News ...

'' said in an editorial that Weiner's "struggled to emerge from the shadows of big-box competitors like Wal-Mart and Target, which attracted customers with one-stop retail shopping." In 2001 Weiner's announced that it was changing its name to Weiner's Plus. The clothing line was always competitive with its lower quality peers. Trying to extract value from essentially rather mediocre product lines. This began to be more and more apparent as the store became squeezed by competitors. The veil of substandard and in many ways outright cheap quality was exposed during this period. Bankruptcy became the obvious alternative as those with an appetite for higher quality and an appreciation for the manufacturing origin and sales of such products became more evident. On Tuesday June 26, 2001, after 75 years of operation, the company announced that it was liquidating; all 97 of its stores would close, and all 2,900 employees would be laid off.

Tropical Storm Allison Tropical Storm Allison was a tropical storm that devastated southeast Texas in June of the 2001 Atlantic hurricane season. An arguable example of the "brown ocean effect", Allison lasted unusually long for a June storm, remaining tropical or su ...

, which had flooded seven of its stores, was the final factor that caused the liquidation, since the company did not have

flood insurance Flood insurance is the specific insurance coverage issued against property loss from flooding. To determine risk factors for specific properties, insurers will often refer to topographical maps that denote lowlands, floodplains and other areas tha ...

. At the time of liquidation the company had 97 stores in four states, including 24 stores in

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

and 9 stores in other places in

Greater Houston Greater Houston, designated by the United States Office of Management and Budget as Houston–The Woodlands–Sugar Land, is the fifth-most populous metropolitan statistical area in the United States, encompassing nine counties along the Gulf Co ...

. Some of the 200 people working at the company headquarters and distribution center were laid off on the Tuesday that the announcement was made. After Weiner's closed,

National Stores National Stores Inc., was a family-owned company headquartered in the Harbor Gateway, Los Angeles, California, Harbor Gateway area of Los Angeles, California with 88 locations in 5 states including Puerto Rico, and employed 2200 people nationwide ...

(Fallas Paredes) took over many of the store locations that were held by Weiner's.Wollam, Allison. "California retailer picks up Weiner's pieces." ''

''. Friday August 17, 2001
1
Retrieved on February 25, 2010.Wollam, Allison "Fallas Paredes to close first store in local market." ''

''. Friday April 25, 2003
1
Retrieved on February 25, 2010. National Stores acquired 31 of the 97 Houston-area Weiner's leases.

References

External links

Weiner's
(Archive){{Dead link, date=June 2011 Companies based in Houston 2001 disestablishments in Texas Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1995 Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2000