Tuesday, December 24, 2024

Simon Pearce closes at Bethesda Row


Simon Pearce
has closed at 7126 Bethesda Lane at Bethesda Row. The artisan glassware retailer opened here in 2021. While there's no public indication that the company is in financial distress, it entered into a "strategic partnership" with a private equity firm a few weeks ago. 

Some unscrupulous vulture capital firms will drain all value out of a brand for investor profit before discarding the husk, laying off employees, closing stores, and converting physical assets to cash. This is what happened to chains like Sears, Kmart, Toys R Us, and KB Toys, to name a few. 

However, this closure comes so close to the deal, that it was likely in the works prior to the formation of the new partnership. The firm in question here, SBJ Capital of San Francisco, specializes in partnering with family-owned firms like Simon Pearce, according to Cascadia Capital, an investment bank that facilitated the tie-up.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

"Some unscrupulous vulture capital firms will drain all value out of a brand for investor profit before discarding the husk, laying off employees, closing stores, and converting physical assets to cash. This is what happened to chains like Sears, Kmart, Toys R Us, and KB Toys, to name a few. " What a totally spurious, asinine, assumption. Those stores died of a pandemic of web infection, which they failed to inoculate themselves against.

Robert Dyer said...

11:22: That is a popular misconception, and one that vulture capital firms and real estate developers are all too happy to promote. It sounds like it could be true, and most people don't bother to look into the unscrupulous actions taken by people like Bain Capital and Fast Eddie Lampert, who sell off the valuable parts of a company, and pocket the cash. AOC and Elizabeth Warren posted a video about this a number of years ago, to name a couple of people who would be highly regarded by a majority of Montgomery County voters. So, don't just take my word for it!