Hacketts closes Canton store

Local News

Discussion

PLEASE NOTE: There is a 150 word maximum for comments. All comments greater than 150 words in length will be deleted in their entirety.

ALSO NOTE: Derisive name-calling of an individual or group will result in the entire comment being deleted. This includes the terms "stupid" and "idiot" and similar references.

Welcome to our new online comments feature. Before you can join the discussion, you must first register with Disqus and verify your email address.

Once you do, your comments will post after they have been reviewed by a moderator.

We welcome your thoughts and your opinions, including unpopular ones. We ask only that you keep the conversation civil and clean.

Not all comments are deemed printable. Some are disqualified, at the newspaper’s discretion, for a number of reasons. Here are some typical practices to avoid in trying to get your comment printed:

There is a 150 word maximum for comments. All comments greater than 150 words in length will be deleted in their entirety.

Don’t state as a fact something that is unsubstantiated or that our editors wouldn't know to be true.

Don’t presume someone’s guilt in a case when it hasn't been established by a court.

Don’t assail or impugn an identifiable individual or group. If you have that kind of criticism, sign your name and submit it as a Letter to the Editor. (There is some leeway on this in connection with public officials, but it is not unconditional.)

Don’t use profanity. This includes the term “tea bagger.”

Don’t be incendiary or tasteless. Those qualities are subjective, of course, and our editors will be the arbiters.

Do not identify yourself in the main content area of the article content form. Only by enforcing this rule can the moderators prevent unscrupulous commenters from falsely identifying themselves as someone they are not.

Don't type in all caps. It is considered the Internet equivalent of shouting.

In sports articles, do not criticize officiating.

Remember, moderators are not allowed to edit any article comments. If an article comment fails any of the above criteria, the entire comment will be deleted.

We monitor comments Monday - Friday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, 2 p.m. to 8 p.m. Approval of comments outside these times may be delayed.

comments powered by Disqus

June 13, 2009

By KIM SMITH DEDAM The Press Republican Sat Jun 13, 2009, 03:35 PM EDT

LAKE PLACID — Hacketts is closing its anchor department store, located at University Plaza in Canton.

The going-out-of-business sale began last Wednesday, with the Watertown Daily Times reporting that Hacketts plans to shutter the site by July 15.

Contacted Friday at the company’s headquarters in Ogdensburg, former Hacketts CEO Norman V. Garrelts said he is no longer an officer with the company and referred further questions to Thomas W. Scozzafava, CEO of Seaway Valley Capital Corp.

“I’m semi-retired,” Garralts said.

Scozzafava (no relation to the Moriah Town Supervisor with a similar name) could not be reached for an interview.

Several Hacketts department stores remain open, including the store refurbished from the former WiseBuys in Tupper Lake, as well as sites in Potsdam, Gouverneur and Hamilton.

Hacketts signed a lease to open a store in the former Tops Market plaza in Lake Placid. The company said in March that it planned to move ahead with the Lake Placid site.

Garrelts wouldn’t comment further on store operations. The manager of the Tupper Lake Hacketts said she couldn’t talk about the status of that store.

Seaway Valley Capital owned Patrick Hacketts Hardware until December 2008, when it transferred ownership to a public company, The Americas Learning Centers Inc., according to the corporate annual report issued in May.

Scozzafava is a principle of Americas Learning Centers, as well.

Hacketts faced involuntary bankruptcy in April when five creditors, owed a combined $1.6 million, sought to have the company’s assets liquidated.

Records from bankruptcy court reported in BusinessWeek listed creditors as: Columbia Sportswear USA, owed $500,707; Woolrich Inc., owed $260,289; The North Face - VF Outdoor Inc., owed $657,307; Skechers USA Inc., owed $27,000; K-2 Sports, owed $36,200; and Deckers Outdoor Corp., owed $74,477.

Creditors later reached an agreement with Hacketts granting a trustee lien on all assets, and the involuntary bankruptcy action was dismissed May 4.

Hacketts closed stores in Watertown and Pulaski this spring in an attempt to raise funds to pay off a total $5 million debt to Wells Fargo Bank.

Canton economic-development officials expressed distress at the closure of Hacketts there, citing the loss of 26 jobs, plus five other positions at the affiliated Payless Shoe Store.

E-mail Kim Smith Dedam at:

kdedam@pressrepublican.com