Cleo, Ricki’s retail chains to shutter as owner seeks creditor protection

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This article was published 07/01/2025 (293 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Comark Holdings — owner of Canadian clothing retailers Bootlegger Clothing Inc., Cleo Fashions Inc. and Ricki’s Fashions Inc. — has filed for creditor protection through the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act.

On Tuesday, Comark said its intention is to wind down the Cleo and Ricki’s brands and shutter all stores in both chains. It also plans to downsize Bootlegger, closing a number of stores, with the intention to finding a buyer for what will remain of that business.

The Vancouver-based company operates a total of 221 retail outlets in eight Canadian provinces: British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador.

There are a total of 13 stores in Manitoba; 10 in Winnipeg, three in Brandon. Winnipeg is also home to the company’s 400,000-square-foot distribution hub.

Comark (owned by companies controlled by Bob Silver and Ronald Stern, who are also co-founders of FP Newspapers Inc., which owns the Free Press) has a total of 2,056 hourly and salaried employees across Canada, including store-level and head office personnel.

“After careful consideration of all reasonably available options, the company has determined that it is in the best interests of its stakeholders to wind down its Ricki’s and Cleo operations and to close all Ricki’s and Cleo retail store locations. The company will continue to explore opportunities with respect to Bootlegger through the CCAA process, which will include reducing its retail footprint to better position the company in today’s retail environment,” Comark said in a news release Tuesday afternoon.

While many retailers have had a challenging time rebounding from mandated shutdowns during the COVID-19 pandemic, Comark has had its own unique challenges.

It completed a successful CCAA restructuring in 2020, but experienced a ransomware cyberattack in November 2021 that significantly disrupted business operations during the holiday sales period.

It has also had to deal with increasing competition from ultra low-cost fashion retailers and recent supply chain and vendor issues caused material delays in the receipt of seasonal merchandise and resulting loss of revenue. For the first nine months of 2024, sales were down 19 per cent and the company lost $21 million on operations during that time.

Comark said it intends to seek a further court order approving the full liquidation of all Ricki’s and Cleo and certain Bootlegger stores, but the impacted sites will remain open during this process.

martin.cash@freepress.mb.ca