Will Wonders Ever Cease?

Natural Wonders (Fremont, Calif.) announced that it was seeking Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Oakland, Calif. In August, the retailer of science-and-nature-based gift products announced that it had acquired competitor World of Science. Shortly after the acquisition, Natural Wonders reported a second-quarter net operating loss, blaming the performance primarily on the expenditures incurred from the acquisition.

“With the disappointing overall holiday retail season sales to date, we are experiencing an unusually promotional environment in retail coupled with lower sales than plan,” said Peter G. Hanelt, the company's ceo/coo. “This has caused us to evaluate alternatives. We were unable to work out an alternative with our secured lenders quickly enough to protect the other constituencies of the company, including our shareholders, employees, vendors, and landlords. We needed, in this situation, to preserve our ability to successfully reorganize and continue our operations as a going concern indefinitely. We believe that our strong cash and inventory positions and extensive store base will enable us, with the protection that this action provides, to implement such reorganization.

“Over the coming months, we envision operating our successful stores with minimal disruption from the filing,” Hanelt continued, “while allowing us to make changes and position the company to be stronger long-term in the nature and science gifting retail category.”

Natural Wonders operated 309 stores as of December 17.