A&G Realty Partners has been retained to handle the liquidation of Bakers Footwear Group’s remaining 56 retail stores located in premier mall shopping centres around the country.
An auction for the store leases is expected to be held on 18 February, with a deadline to submit bids to A&G Realty by 21 February.
Founded in 1929 under a different name, Bakers Footwear Group stores target women between 12 and 29 years old, selling merchandise including private label and national brand dress, casual and sport shoes, boots, sandals and accessories.
“Bakers' real estate has begun to create interest among various shoe retailers, particularly those interested in access to premier locations in some of the top malls in the country,” says Michael Jerbich, a partner at A&G Realty Partners, who is managing the court-supervised sale process.
Bakers Footwear Group, once a leading mall-based retailer of shoes for young women, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in October 2012 because of declining sales. Before the St. Louis-based footwear retailed filed its bankruptcy petition it operated 236 Bakers and Wild Pair shoe stores in 37 states.
US Bankruptcy Court Charles Rendlen III for the US Bankruptcy Court in St Louis approved the Chapter 7 order on 15 January, 2013, allowing Bakers Footwear Group to conduct going-out-of-business sales at its remaining stores, including the liquidation of its retail properties.
Baker’s intellectual property assets are being marketed by investment banking firm Consensus Advisors.
Consensus managing director Thomas Scotti says: “Bakers Footwear Groups’ core trade names have been in use for 90 years. The company has sold billions of dollars of shoes to young women from stores all over the US and from its successful website. The company has a customer list of 1.5 million names, many of whom are active and engaged customers of the brand.”