Bankrupt British clothier to close all stores
Ted Baker, the British highstreet clothing retailer whose executives raised concerns about safety at the troubled San Francisco Centre, is the latest casualty at the city’s largest mall.
The company declared bankruptcy last month, signaling the closure of all its stores across North America.
The shutdown will affect not only Ted Baker’s San Francisco store but also its locations at Santana Row in San Jose and a discount outlet in Livermore. With 31 retail locations in the U.S., the chain has initiated clearance sales of its entire inventory of men’s and women’s designer clothing. Additionally, the brand has discontinued online shopping.
Ted Baker filed a Chapter 15 motion in New York bankruptcy court last month, following similar insolvency proceedings in Canada and the U.K. Legal documents obtained by the Wall Street Journal revealed that the decision to shutter the company came after Authentic Brand Group, which acquired Ted Baker in 2022, stopped paying its suppliers.
Approximately 600 employees will be affected by the closures of the North American stores.
“We wish that there could’ve been a better outcome for the Ted Baker employees and stakeholders,” John McNamara, chief
strategy and transition officer for Authentic Brands Group, told Fashion Network.
The San Francisco store, located inside the troubled mall at Market and Fifth streets, was a particular challenge for the company. Records obtained by the Chronicle indicate that public safety concerns date to October 2022.
“We urgently need to discuss Westfield,” wrote Sami Archondo, vice president of retail at Ted Baker, in an email to other top executives at the clothing store chain.
Archondo said Ted Baker’s San Francisco Centre location had five female associates report an “increase in violent activity from homeless people on the streets coming in the mall.”
The employees had said people also “continue to come in to our location to swipe the front table,” Archondo wrote.
They reported more serious incidents from around the mall, including security guards from another store who were stabbed and a homeless person who allegedly hid in a bathroom and sexually assaulted a customer.
At one point at the Ted Baker store, employees locked the doors and someone banged on them, “threatening to bring a gun to shoot everyone, and telling our team that they will wait for them and rape them on their way home,” Archondo said.
Ari Hoffman, Ted Baker’s North America CEO, forwarded the email to Westfield and asked for the company to pay for a security guard.
“If the mall does not provide a safe environment, we will close the store,” Hoffman said.
Ted Baker, founded in Scotland in 1998, faced broader challenges. After a successful global run in its first three decades, the brand faced a crisis in December 2018 when 300 present and former employees signed a petition accusing founder and CEO Ray Kelvin of “forced hugging.”
Kelvin resigned three months later, leaving the brand’s leadership and finances in disarray. The COVID-19 pandemic further exacerbated its issues, forcing Ted Baker to sell its London headquarters.
Authentic Brands Group, owner of Reebok and the David Beckham brands, attempted to revive the brand, but the company’s shares continued to fall in recent years.