Baby Arm!

As one of the few national chains that stocks Mean Green clothing, (at very good prices too!) This isn't good. Steve & Barry's Steve & Barry's Faces Cash Crunch Fast-Growing Chain Seeks $30 Million; Chapter 11 May Loom By PETER LATTMAN and JEFFREY MCCRACKEN June 21, 2008; Page A4 As one of the country's fastest-growing store chains, Steve & Barry's LLC was billed as the future of discount retailing. It boasted of massive expansion plans, built on the back of fire-sale prices of clothes and shoes promoted by the likes of actress Sarah Jessica Parker and professional basketball player Stephon Marbury. Don Lansu/WireImage for Steve and Barry's Sarah Jessica Parker fans overflow into the mall waiting for their favorite star to sign autographs on Aug. 3, 2007, in Mount Prospect, Ill. That future now looks bleak. The closely held retailer is racing to find rescue financing of about $30 million. If it is unable to secure backing, it could seek protection from creditors sometime in the next month, say several creditors, bankruptcy lawyers and retail experts familiar with the matter. Steve & Barry's has hired Goldman Sachs Group Inc. to seek out financing and hired a bankruptcy lawyer to advise it on a restructuring, say these people. A spokesman for Steve & Barry's declined to comment. Its attorney, New York-based retail-bankruptcy veteran Paul Traub, also declined to comment when reached Thursday. The cash crunch comes even as Steve & Barry's expands across the country, with stores already in 40 states hawking exclusive fashion lines endorsed by tennis player Venus Williams and actress Amanda Bynes. Since May 15, it has opened nine stores, from upstate New York to Kokomo, Ind., and San Jose, Calif. Steve & Barry's is just the latest retail player hurt by the economic downturn, and its demise would be a big blow to struggling mall owners. An ailing economy and $4-a-gallon gasoline have wreaked havoc upon the retail landscape, pushing the likes of Sharper Image Corp. and Linens n' Things Inc. into bankruptcy protection. Sarah Jessica Parker is among Steve & Barry's celebrity collaborators. With fashionable clothes priced below $10, Steve & Barry's deep-discount model was built to thrive in such an environment. In a 2006 interview with The Wall Street Journal, co-founder Barry Prevor said the U.S. market could support 5,000 stores. Its founders have dubbed their effort the "Google of retailing." The company currently has 270 stores and projected 2008 revenue approaching $1 billion, with earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization of roughly $20 million, said two people familiar with its finances. But some of the forces pushing Steve & Barry's growth were not tied to end-consumer demand, but the needs of mall owners in a softening commercial-real-estate market. Much of the company's earnings came in the form of one-time, up-front payments from mall owners. Those payments were designed to lure the retailer to take over vacated sites, say several people familiar with the company. Without these payments, the stores are barely profitable, if at all, people familiar with the company's finances say. In recent weeks, the retailer has been seeking at least $30 million to fund operations through 2008. It has approached a number of financing sources, say these people. Without additional capital, the company's fate will largely be determined by the commercial-lending unit of General Electric Co. It provided the company with a roughly $200 million credit facility in March, and the company is already in default on that loan, said three people familiar with the matter. Steve & Barry's closing would be another blow for owners of malls and shopping centers, who have struggled to cope with the 6,500 store closures predicted for this year by the International Council of Shopping Centers. Steve & Barry's eagerly snapped up big-box sites vacated by consolidating chains like Macy's Inc. At a shopping-center conference in May, several mall owners said Steve & Barry's was one of the answers to the industry's problems filling vacant space. "They should be able to see through this," said Anthony Cafaro Jr., a vice president at Cafaro Co., a large Youngstown, Ohio-based mall developer that leases 10 sites to the company. "They still have that sensational 'wow' factor in terms of their prices—it's a great concept." Part of the chain's attraction has been its low prices. Everything from sweatpants to jeans to down jackets cost less than $10. The chain has a miniscule advertising budget. Mr. Prevor is also considered a master "tariff arbitrager," carrying an encyclopedic knowledge of tariff codes so the business can reduce costs by manufacturing products in such far-flung locales as Lesotho and Malawi. Steve & Barry's has received much attention for its celebrity-branded products. In 2006, it signed National Basketball Association star Mr. Marbury to endorse a line of $14 sneakers called Starbury, which were hailed as an antidote to the prices for Nike and other basketball shoes. It also made a splash with a line of clothing designed by Ms. Parker, who named the line Bitten because she was "bitten by the Steve & Barry bug," she has said. Last year, Ms. Parker and Mr. Marbury appeared on the Oprah Winfrey Show to promote their lines and the trend toward "cheap chic." Mr. Prevor and Steven Shore were childhood friends from Long Island, N.Y., and opened their first store in 1985 in Philadelphia, selling discount University of Pennsylvania apparel and undercutting the campus bookstore. They slowly opened outlets in college towns across the country before transforming Steve & Barry's into a big-box-mall retailer. In 2005, the International Council of Shopping Centers honored the chain with its "Hot Retailer Award," given each year to stores considered by mall managers as the best at generating buzz and bringing more shoppers to the shopping centers they occupy.

Ted Bundy

HEY!!! This $100 bill is wrinkled!

Rick, Shhhh. You cant question Obama's decision making ability? Who cares who he associated with? If his wife says she's never been proud of America in her adult life, don't bring that up. She's off limits. Don't question his incredible lack of experience. Remember he's a good speaker, he's eloquent. He uses words like 'Hope' and 'Change' in his speeches, therefore he MUST be the best candidate. While these might be legitimate questions for other candidates, you can't criticize or question the presumed Dem candidate because if you do that you're engaging in the same old attack style politics of fear and hatred.

It's this kind of rampant partsianship that has so many disillusioned with our political system. I have never understood why some have to demonize those they disagree with. I don't think the Dem's are evil, just wrong. Maybe engaging in fearmongering with lables like "hate and fear" is a how you demonstrate hope and inspiration, to me it just looks like mudslinging. I don't know, I could be wrong.

I agree, this IS getting silly. I'm no fan of Gore or his politics but I still think he served honorably and should be commended for it. Keep in mind that military service isn't a prequisite for being commander in chief. Woodrow Wilson, and Franklin D Roosevelt all managed to lead the country through world wars and neither of them served a day in the military.

The proof of political grandstanding?... It was a resolution not a bill From Wikipedia: In a house of a legislature, the term non-binding resolution refers to measures that do not become laws. This is used to differentiate those measures from a bill, which is also a resolution in the technical sense. The resolution is often used to express the body's approval or disapproval of something which they cannot otherwise vote on, due to the matter being handled by another jurisdiction, or being protected by a constitution. An example would be a resolution of support for a nation's troops in battle, which carries no legal weight, but is adopted for moral support. So whats the purpose of voting/passing this resolution??? Grandstanding.

Well Mr. Gore says his energy consumption is OK because he purchases carbon credits. So basically his position is that it's ok to burn through resources if you have enough money to pay for the privillege. Which I don't have a problem with, it basic rree enterprise. But that doesn't remove the hypocrite label from Gore's forehead. A side note, at last year's Oscars, (which Al Gore appeared), Those appearing were given gift packages. Included in the package were enough carbon credits to last a lifetime. Now I don't know if Gore received this gift but if he did, now he isn't even paying his own way for his hypocracy.

This thread reminding anybody else of Dr. Bunch's Constitutional Law class. I loved that class (enough to take both semesters!). Wonder if he's still at UNT? Ahhh memories...

Could? It already happened years ago. I forget the specifics but there was some barbecue joint in Alabama that was segregated, It claimed the public accomadation discrimination laws didn't apply to them because they did a local business, they weren't engaged in interstate commerce so Congress couldn't regulate them under the commerce clause. Well, the ketchup on the tables was manufactured and bottled in another state, even though the business' clientel was entirely local, the Court ruled they were engaged in interstate commerce because they purchased supplies manufactured in another state.

Nice story on the Dodge family and other father/son Coach/QB combos ESPN.com

I don't mind the Tiger bait chants but: I've been to a lot of college stadiums and I've never had my car vandalized just for having an NT sticker on it....except at LSU, I've been to a lot of college stadiums and I've never had stuff thrown at me when I cheered for NT....except at LSU. I've been to a lot of college & pro stadiums and I've encountered or witnessed jerk fans, and each time the ushers/security would escort the offenders from the stadium...except at LSU. I will be the first to say I've met a lot of nice people in Baton Rouge, very hospitable. And I know there are jerk fans everywhere, the difference is there outrageous behavior at other schools isn't tolerated like it is at Death Valley. It's a minority of drunken jerk fans at LSU, and the authorities lack of doing anything to curtail the behavior that have soured me on that place.

It's been a few years and I've killed a lot of brain cells since then, but I seem to remember voting to raise student fees in order to pay for the stadium expansion when we moved up to D-1.

Mine doesn't, but I keep his ears clean. Now his breath, that's a different story...

Wind erosion? My wife accuses me of that all the time

You could be giving those away and I wouldn't take them. I don't care how good the seats are. I WILL NEVER ATTEND ANTOHER GAME AT LSU! Worst fans in the country

"You're right Mr. Harvey, I had no right selling off the team's equipment like that..." Coach Pawning schools equipment.

Count me in You can have may Hound when you pry him from my cold, dead, hands! (which will be covered in drool)

This was emailed to me today. Gotta admit it is funny Court Order-Texas v. Arkansas I think he's one of these guys...

ND athletic director job open Everytime there is an opening for Athletic Director someplace, some on this board get bent out of shape if Rick's name is even mentioned. (Forget about if he actually applies for the job, interviews, etc) How would you feel if RV actually applied for the job at Notre Dame? It's just a hypothetical question to fill the off season. I'm not saying he'd be a contender. Personally, I can't fault a guy if he tries to improve his employment situation. He owes it to his family to look at opportunities like this. IF Rick went after this gig, I say GO FOR IT

Twentythree 110's??? I got tired just reading that!

Late entry for best line of the week

I have to admit I enjoy Check Facts' addition to the board. Face it, the entertainment value on here has taken a nose dive akin to the housing markets since the lack of hurricane predictions, the absence of Green Grenade, and PMG rants seem to be fewer and further between lately. Personally I'm glad to see the 'wack job' vaccum being filled by Check Facts