Welcome to TBO.com. Skip directly to: our Keyword Search, Section Navigation, Content.

TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Business

TBO > News > Business

Shuttered but not gone

By EMILY FREDRIX

The Associated Press

Published: July 3, 2009

Circuit City. Linens 'N Things. Bombay Co. They're all out of business. Their stores shuttered. Employees laid off.

But according to their old Web sites, they're all still selling, or planning to sell, the same stuff they always did - everything from digital picture frames to leopard-print rugs.

How can this be? Didn't these companies shut down?

When a company goes out of business by way of bankruptcy, other companies buy its assets, everything from cash registers and office furniture to unsold merchandise. Also for sale are assets such as the company's name, logo and Web site.

And some experts say a name still has value even if the company has gone belly up. That's why a store chain's Web site can live on, and can even look largely unchanged, after the company has gone under.

Electronics retailer Circuit City, which closed the last of its 567 stores in March, is one of the most prominent names that's gone under. Online retailer Systemax Inc. bought the Circuit City brand and Web site, www.circuitcity.com, out of bankruptcy court in May for $14 million and a share of revenue for 30 months. The company sells the same types of products Circuit City did.

The Linens 'N Things brand also is still selling. The home goods retailer went out of business during the winter, and in February a company called LNT Acquisition LLC bought the Web site, www.lnt.com, and the Linens 'N Things brand name, according to the Web site. It still sells items once found in the chain's stores.

Gadget retailer The Sharper Image, which filed for bankruptcy in February 2008 and has closed all its stores, lives on as a brand. Visitors to its site, www.sharperimage.com, are pointed to retailers such as OfficeMax, Bed Bath & Beyond and Macy's, where Sharper Image products are sold.

Consumers should research policies for returns and warranties from the sites because they might not be the same as under the old ownership, said Edgar Dworsky, a consumer advocate and founder of ConsumerWorld.Org, based in Somerville, Mass.

Share this: