Pac Rim on the Block
By Maria Weiskott -- Gifts and Dec, 5/1/2007 12:35:00 PM
Seattle — The final chapter in the history of Pacific Rim Import Corp. may be written later this week.
Great American Group, a national liquidation firm, is scheduled to auction the company's remaining assets Thursday, May 10 — almost three months to the day since news of the 30-year-old home accent and gift company's financial woes became public knowledge. It was February 13 when a surprised industry learned that Pac Rim had gone into receivership by the order of the Washington Superior Court.
At the time, the receiver, Inverness Group LLC (which has offices in Seattle, Portland, WA and Chicago) stated that efforts would be made to sell Pac Rim and/or its assets; a March 15 deadline was ultimately set for bids. Although the company was not sold outright by the time the deadline came and went, "over $5 million in product sales to customers were realized through ongoing sales efforts, and through the company's well-established customer channels during the 8-week period ending April 15," according to an email from Inverness to parties that had expressed interest in Pac Rim after it went into receivership.
Pacific Rim, whose Seattle showroom at the Pacific Market Center was bustling with customers during the winter market, had a substantial network of over 22,000 customer relationships throughout the United States and Canada, according to the Inverness email.
Meanwhile, some $19 million in product and other assets remain to be sold, including home furnishings and accessories, as well as seasonal goods. Also on the auction block: all Pac Rim customer lists, sales detail histories and 2007 order bookings; Pac Rim, Fidalgo's logos, trademarks, websites and domain names and other sales intangibles; Life Impressions trademarks and copyright applications pending.
Thursday's on-site auction will take place at Pac Rim's Seattle headquarters, but bidders may also participate live online through an auction webcast at the Great American website. Assets being sold on an "as is" basis include all intangible assets of Pac Rim and its affiliates.
"It will be a sad day for the industry," one manufacturer told giftsanddec.com, referring to the auction. "They had a great thing going," he added.
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