EMS Going Bankrupt?

[DayTrip]

I find the EMS-branded items to be a very good value for the money, especially when you get them on sale or with a coupon--you should (of course) never pay full retail at EMS unless you have an emergency gear need.

Tim

I would generally agree with that. It just seems like they are severely discounting their brand pretty much across all categories, not just Winter stuff that might have been overstocked. Made me wonder if they were keeping the line going forward.

 

[Daniel Eagan]

I find the EMS-branded items to be a very good value for the money, especially when you get them on sale or with a coupon--you should (of course) never pay full retail at EMS unless you have an emergency gear need.

Tim

Absolutely, I'm still wearing EMS shirts and pants from before I got married twenty years ago. And the ones I can no longer fit into, my wife wears.

 

[jrbren]

I am hard pressed to see an upside to this. If they go under it means :
1.) Loss of jobs
2.) Loss of competition to surviving competitor stores such as REI reducing pressure to maintain or reduce prices
3.) I can't think of any good monopolies, which this is one step closer to (hopefully another store rises up and fills the void). I especially fear Amazon taking over the retail world.
4.) Loss of convenience to me personally. Living in metrowest Boston there are two EMS stores convenient to my routine travels. The nearest REI (which also frequent) is about a half hour drive in the Framingham/Natick clustercuss of shopping centers.

EMS has been good to me through the years from my days I discovered them when I lived in the Burlington, VT area. In those days there was a very good outdoor store there called "Climb High", which was the best for knowledgeable sales people. That went under about 10-15 years ago, I think they decided they were going to be a Mammut outlet which did not go over well.

I will hope EMS finds a way to stay a float somehow.

 

[DayTrip]

I was in the Warwick,RI EMS on Friday hoping to get some new boots with a coupon or sales. The store was half empty with clearance signs everywhere. Lot of open space between the racks and selection was extremely limited. They had four models of men's hiking boots to choose from. The clerk said "they were having a big inventory problem and were waiting for stuff from some other stores". Felt like a store going out of business to me.

 

[JoeCedar]

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-sport-chalet-closing-20160416-story.html

Sister store, Sport Chalet, closing.

 

[Kevin]

According to one news story, The Eastern Mountain stores closing are as follows: Christiana, Del.; Dulles, Va.; Foxborough, Mass.; Moorestown, N.J.; North Brunswick, N.J.; University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia; Warwick, R.I.; and West Hartford, Conn.....

No wonder Warwick was empty of inventory.

I was in the Warwick,RI EMS on Friday hoping to get some new boots with a coupon or sales. The store was half empty with clearance signs everywhere. Lot of open space between the racks and selection was extremely limited. They had four models of men's hiking boots to choose from. The clerk said "they were having a big inventory problem and were waiting for stuff from some other stores". Felt like a store going out of business to me.

 

[DayTrip]

According to one news story, The Eastern Mountain stores closing are as follows: Christiana, Del.; Dulles, Va.; Foxborough, Mass.; Moorestown, N.J.; North Brunswick, N.J.; University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia; Warwick, R.I.; and West Hartford, Conn.....

No wonder Warwick was empty of inventory.

Good info. Most of the EMS stores on that list (at least in my area - Warwick, West Hartford and Foxborough) fall into the "suburban adventurer" category so it makes sense. Hopefully the more legitimate outdoor location hang around.

 

[peakbagger]

http://www.bostonherald.com/busines..._s_stores_eastern_mountain_sports_files_ch_11

It looks like this is a "packaged bankruptcy", use the filing to get rid of debt and low performers and then sell the remaining company without the liabilities to affiliated company. The creditors get hosed but the company survives for a few years.

 

[jniehof]

Good info. Most of the EMS stores on that list (at least in my area - Warwick, West Hartford and Foxborough) fall into the "suburban adventurer" category so it makes sense. Hopefully the more legitimate outdoor location hang around.

West Hartford also has an REI, so pulling out of the more-saturated market makes sense.

 

[TomK]

And there is an EMS in Avon that won't be closing (at least for now), that's fairly close to West Harford. I'm a little surprised that they are closing the West Harford location instead of the Avon one, but I suppose they have a good idea of which store is performing better.


EMS kinda lost me when they asked for my e-mail address as part of a loyalty program, and then sent me e-mail advertisements about every other day. I wouldn't mind a couple times a month, but that was kind of much. I eventually blocked their address from my e-mail.

TomK

 

[rup]

EMS in Paramus, NJ, closed last year - maybe even 2014 - fuzzy. Then again, it was next door to Campmor. Heard the NYC SOHO store closed as well.