Tweeter Suddenly Shuts Down; Workers without Pay Dec 4, 2008

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Electronics chain Tweeter abruptly shuttered its stores and fired more than 600 employees at 70 stores across the United States days before the company was set to close for good, according to an AP report. Tweeter had planned to close its shops on Sunday.

The employees are still owed at least one week's pay, vacation time, and hundreds of thousands of dollars in bonuses that were promised as part of the liquidation sale, said the report. Customers are unable to pick up merchandise they had already purchased, and the liquidators handling the closing also have not been paid. Meanwhile, there is roughly US$14 million worth of goods left in the locked stores.

The owners of the chain, Schultze Asset Management, shut down Tweeter after they paid off millions of dollars to the largest secured creditor -- Wells Fargo, according to the report. Schultze Asset Management, a New York investment firm which had also loaned money to Tweeter, was the second biggest creditor and decided against putting additional money into the company to cover expenses to wind down the operations.

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