VANCOUVER (CelebrityAccess MediaWire) — Canadian music and electronics retailer A&B Sound has announced that's it gone into bankruptcy protection – all locations have closed and the company is heading for liquidation.
A post on the company's website read: "We regret to inform the public that a&b sound was placed in bankruptcy on Friday November 7, 2008. We purchased a&b sound out of CCAA on March 2nd, 2005 and while we did our best to turn the business around, we were unable to do so. We take this opportunity to thank all of a&b’s loyal customers for their patronage over the years as well as the employees for their loyal and dedicated service. The remaining inventory will be liquidated out of the Abbotsford location which will also deal with any customer owned product. We will publish details of the liquidation on this website when they are finalized."
The company had been in dire financial straits for some time with heavy competition from other retail giants such as Virgin Megastores and HMV, while grappling with the rapidly shifting model for music distribution. The company had filed for bankruptcy in 2005, but was given a temporary stay of execution when computer maker Seanix Technology acquired them for approximately $20 million. Since the 2005 acquisition however, the company has been slowly closing locations around Canada in an attempt to re-organize that ultimately appears to have been unsuccessful. – CelebrityAccess Staff Writers
