Creative Memories Seeks Court Permission For Close Outs, Program Modifications
Creative Memories is petitioning the court supervising its bankruptcy proceedings for permission to hold a large sale closing out product lines, as well as for permission to modify certain company programs, including the host rewards program, the rewards club, and gift certificates.
Creative Memories says that it intends to exit bankruptcy as a "smaller, more nimble company." Numerous court filings seem to indicate the company intends to focus on simpler memory keeping options than their current product line, and also more on digital.
In the motion filed on June 12th, the company notified the court of its intentions to hold two sales: While Supplies Last and Last Chance Orders. Both of these close-outs will be for products which will not be part of the company's future product line, but they will be handled in different ways.
The "While Supplies Last" sale will be a close-out of products done by selling only the company's existing inventory on hand of those items. Since the company's inventory is finite, the "while supplies last" sale is essentially already underway on those items, although the list of specific items has not been announced.
The company plans to make "Last Chance Orders" available for some items from July 8th through July 31st. Intent according to court documents is that all orders placed for these items during that time frame will be fulfilled, even if the company has to manufacture additional inventory to do so.
It does not appear that the company intends to offer discount pricing on any items as part of the close outs.
Creative Memories is also requesting of the court permission to modify their current rewards programs. They plan to discontinue the current Host Rewards program after June 3oth, although the court filing indicates the company's intent to launch a new program as part of the company's overhaul.
The Rewards Club is also up for modification. The company has already stopped accepting new memberships and renewals (which cost $39/year), and is proposing ending the club entirely on August 21st. All club member credits would have to be used by that date, and membership fees will be refunded on a pro-rated basis for unused time in the form of club credits to be used before the termination date.
Gift certificates are also affected by the June 14th motion if it is approved by the bankruptcy court. Creative Memories is requesting to have all outstanding gift certificates terminate if they are not used by August 21st. As the company terms it in the motion, gift certificates and club credits will be "use them or lose them" if the motion is approved. According to the motion, the company has about $12,000 in outstanding gift certificates that will be affected by the court's ruling.
The U.S. Bankruptcy Court District of Minnesota is scheduled to hold a hearing on Creative Memories' motion at 2:00 p.m. on June 26, 2013, in Courtroom No. 2B, United States Courthouse, 316 North Robert Street, St. Paul, Minnesota. The deadline for responses to the motion to be filed with the court is on June 21st. If no responses are filed, the court may approve the motion after that date without proceeding to the hearing.
