CYBER MONDAY PROJECTED TO HIT $12.7B
Pandemic-fueled spree may push up the day’s spending 35% this year
Online shoppers in the U.S. are expected to drop a record-busting $12.7 billion on Cyber Monday — the busiest e-commerce day of the year — presenting a valuable opportunity for retailers whose websites, customer service departments and delivery operations can withstand the period of crushing traffic.
Amazon.com, Walmart, Target, Best Buy and others have been preparing for the 2020 holiday deluge for months. This week will be the ultimate test of their new investments in ramping up delivery capacity and adding features such as parking lot pickup for digital orders.
The coronavirus surge largely kept crowd-averse shoppers away from physical malls on Black Friday, reinforcing predictions that
online shopping will soar this year. Adobe Analytics predicts that Cyber Monday spending this year will climb 35 percent — more than dou
ble the growth rate in the years prior to the pandemic.
Nearly 30 percent of Cyber MonSEE
in professional fees that the company realizes.
“This was important for the company to get through the case, which is still contingent on lease negotiations,” Galardi told U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Margaret Walrath. “It was a busy Thanksgiving, but it was resolved yesterday.”
In late October, the 37year-old, privately held Rubio’s, known for bringing the Baja California-style fish taco to San Diego, filed paperwork with the Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware to get out from under more than $100 million in liabilities. It already has closed a number of stores as it faced mounting debts and difficulty paying rent.
As the coronavirus pandemic worsened, Rubio’s opted to not reopen 26 of its locations across California, Arizona, Colorado and Florida because of “unsustainable operating losses and/or other signif icant challenges” the company’s chief restructuring officer, Melissa Kibler, said in court papers.
In a move to keep the Carlsbad-based company af loat during the bankruptcy period, it secured an $8 million loan from its lender, Golub Capital Markets.
San Diego restaurant consultant John Gordon said it’s not always the case that creditors and debtors can reach an agreement during the course of a bankruptcy.
“In these bankruptcy matters, anytime the debtor can reach agreement with the creditors, both secured and unsecured, it is an accomplishment, and speeds the process along,” Gordon said.
The settlement, though, was preceded by fairly harsh words from the committee representing the creditors. In a November court filing objecting to Rubio’s bankruptcy financing plan, the committee claimed that in the months leading up to the Chapter 11 filing, Golub and owner Mill Street Capital took steps to “effectively loot the Debtors’ previously unencumbered assets, leaving nothing at all for unsecured creditors.”
Golub countered in a court filing that its $8 million bankruptcy financing package will allow the company to continue paying 3,400 employees, dozens of vendors and “critical” vendors as some Rubio’s restaurants remain open.
It also defended the plan as one that would clear the way for a “quick and efficient exit from bankruptcy — a goal that has become particularly important in light of the increasing severity of the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Creditors cut across a broad swath of companies, from landlords like the Irvine Co. and utilities like
San Diego Gas & Electric to numerous vendors, including Pepsi and Coca-Cola and seafood purveyors.
Started in 1983 by cofounder Ralph Rubio, Rubio’s currently operates 170 restaurants — 167 are company-owned stores and three are franchise locations — across California, Arizona and Nevada. The firm went public in 1999 but returned to private ownership through a $91 million sale to Connecticut-based investment firm Mill Road Capital in 2010.