Author Archives: doug

The Friendly’s restaurants in Lawrence, Methuen and Haverhill / Plaistow were all spared when the chain closed a number of it’s Massachusetts stores right before ending its bankruptcy case. Ten Massachusetts Friendly’s were closed on Sunday January 8th, part of 37 which were shuttered last week across the country. the Massachusetts closures were mainly in […]

We are just a few days in to 2012, and there is already rumors of another possible big bankruptcy filing from a titan of corporate America. This time it is the Eastman Kodak Company that might consider the protection of bankruptcy court. The firm is practically synonymous with photography world wide, but they have obviously […]

At the end of 2011 an Associated Press poll found 62 percent of Americans are optimistic about what 2012 will bring for the nation and 78 percent are hopeful about their family situation, while nearly 70 percent say that 2011 was a year to forget. Food and gas prices surged in 2011, but there are […]

One of the downbeat Massachusetts bankruptcy stories of 2011 had a bitter conclusion on Dec. 29th, when the last of the Filene’s Basement stores closed for good. The Boston retail legend, which filed for bankruptcy for the third time in October, was shuttered after selling off its remaining inventory, plus the store fixtures themselves. The […]

One of the biggest Massachusetts bankruptcy stories of 2011 took another twist in late December, when the scheduled auction of the restaurant chain was cancelled — for lack of bidders. The only bid was a $75M bid by the firm’s current owner, the equity firm Sun Capital Partners. The cancellation of the auction makes it […]

Elevated prices for gasoline and home heating oil are draining family budgets throughout the Merrimack Valley. If you are looking for the likely cause for Massachusetts and New Hampshire consumers to file bankruptcy cases in 2012, you may have to look no further. Even more than the rise in foreclosures, the drop in home values, […]

A federal agency is moving in bankruptcy court against Sun Partners, the owner of the bankrupt Friendly’s restaurant chain, charging them with fraudulently moving assets so that the ice cream stores could avoid paying retirement benefits. Friendly’s lawyers claim “There is nothing nefarious about selling a business in a bankruptcy auction without compelling a buyer […]