Vestis Retail Group (Meriden, Conn.), which owns Eastern Mountain Sports, Sports Chalet and Bob’s Stores, has filed for bankruptcy protection and plans to sell or close the stores.
The company is closing the entire Sports Chalet chain of stores and, in anticipation of that, has already started liquidating those stores. As for the other two chains, it is closing select stores but hopes to sell the remaining ones, reports Boston Herald.
The closures and bankruptcy are being attributed to the changing tide of how customers shop, by going online for their purchases rather than into their local sports stores. Last month, Sports Authority (Englewood, Colo.) also filed for bankruptcy.