Please Mum files for bankruptcy protection

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This article was published 14/07/2011 (5251 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

If you have a gift card for children’s clothing retailer Please Mum, you might be out of luck.

The Canadian company has filed for bankruptcy protection, according to a customer-service representative at its call centre.

Under Canadian bankruptcy law, companies in bankruptcy protection are not obligated to honour gift cards.

The holders are what are called “unsecured creditors,” says Glen Cassie, a communications officer with Manitoba Consumer Affairs.

“What the consumer should do is find out who is handling the bankruptcy/receivership and ask that their name be added to the list of unsecured creditors,” Cassie wrote, in an email.

According to a voicemail message on Please Mum’s media line, “creditors should contact Deloitte & Touche at 604-640-3210.”

A man whose wife is pregant, and who just got a $250 Please Mum gift card, said he is outraged.

“As far as i’m concerned , it’s theft,” the man, whose name is Jared, said. He didn’t want his last name used.

Another man who had received a Please Mum gift card was similarly upset. “I do not agree with this, as it is money that’s already been accepted by the retail chain,” Glen Zelinsky said.

The company’s website has announced that all but 21 Please Mum locations across Canada will close due to “large scale restructuring.”

Only two of Winnipeg’s three Please Mums will survive the cut: those at the St. Vital Shopping Centre and Kildonan Place. The Polo Park location will close.

On the Please Mum website, CEO Kathryn Adrian says: “As a result of significant shifts in the retail landscape, we’ve had to make tough decisions about the future of our company.”

William.burr@freepress.mb.ca