A customer shops inside the former Freebird store in the Cherry Creek Shopping Center on March 6, 2017. (Helen Richardson/The Denver Post)
Pending a judge’s approval, the Denver boot seller Freebird will soon be sold for $500,000.
The sale would cap off a fast and acute fall for the retailer of handmade boots from 20 stores and a headquarters in Cherry Creek this spring to just two locations, a court-ordered receivership, a mountain of debt at least $21 million high and a departure from Denver.
“Given the company’s precarious financial condition as well as its inability to secure or replenish inventory, the value of (Freebird’s) intellectual property is rapidly eroding and absent a very prompt disposition could likely have little to no value,” its receiver wrote June 30.
Ampleo Turnaround and Restructuring is asking Denver District Judge Jill Dorancy to quickly approve the half-million-dollar sale, which is supported by Freebird’s lender, KeyBank. Freebird CEO Mike Murphy declined to discuss the sale with BusinessDen.
The buyer is Yasser Elshair of Arizona’s Elshair Cos., a private equity firm specializing in e-commerce. It also owns OliveOil.com, FragrantJewels.com and Jane.com. Last year, Elshair bought The Pro’s Closet, a local retailer of pre-owned bicycles.
“Following court approval, we look forward to expanding our portfolio in Denver with the addition of Freebird,” Elshair wrote in a statement to BusinessDen last week. “Our plan includes reopening select Freebird retail locations nationwide, including in the Denver area.”
The Pro’s Closet’s warehouse and store in Louisville. (Courtesy The Pro’s Closet)
Elshair will pay a $100,000 deposit and then $400,000 at closing, which is scheduled for Sept. 1. Elshair can keep Freebird’s employees and assume its retail leases in Nashville, Tennessee, and Charleston, South Carolina, along with a warehouse in Georgia, but is not required to keep workers or locations. Freebird, which recently had four Colorado stores, now has none.
Elshair was not the highest bidder for Freebird. Court exhibits obtained in a records request show that AOL Sourcing Group, a Philadelphia-based company, sent a term sheet to Ampleo unsolicited on June 23, proposing to pay $1 million for Freebird. Ampleo then asked Elshair if it was willing to participate in an auction with AOL and was told no.
Ampleo says it could not get in touch with AOL to discuss the term sheet for one week. That, considering the urgency of the situation, compelled it to sell to Elshair instead.
A customer shops inside the former Freebird store in the Cherry Creek Shopping Center on March 6, 2017. (Helen Richardson/The Denver Post)
Pending a judge’s approval, the Denver boot seller Freebird will soon be sold for $500,000.
The sale would cap off a fast and acute fall for the retailer of handmade boots from 20 stores and a headquarters in Cherry Creek this spring to just two locations, a court-ordered receivership, a mountain of debt at least $21 million high and a departure from Denver.
“Given the company’s precarious financial condition as well as its inability to secure or replenish inventory, the value of (Freebird’s) intellectual property is rapidly eroding and absent a very prompt disposition could likely have little to no value,” its receiver wrote June 30.
Ampleo Turnaround and Restructuring is asking Denver District Judge Jill Dorancy to quickly approve the half-million-dollar sale, which is supported by Freebird’s lender, KeyBank. Freebird CEO Mike Murphy declined to discuss the sale with BusinessDen.
The buyer is Yasser Elshair of Arizona’s Elshair Cos., a private equity firm specializing in e-commerce. It also owns OliveOil.com, FragrantJewels.com and Jane.com. Last year, Elshair bought The Pro’s Closet, a local retailer of pre-owned bicycles.
“Following court approval, we look forward to expanding our portfolio in Denver with the addition of Freebird,” Elshair wrote in a statement to BusinessDen last week. “Our plan includes reopening select Freebird retail locations nationwide, including in the Denver area.”
The Pro’s Closet’s warehouse and store in Louisville. (Courtesy The Pro’s Closet)
Elshair will pay a $100,000 deposit and then $400,000 at closing, which is scheduled for Sept. 1. Elshair can keep Freebird’s employees and assume its retail leases in Nashville, Tennessee, and Charleston, South Carolina, along with a warehouse in Georgia, but is not required to keep workers or locations. Freebird, which recently had four Colorado stores, now has none.
Elshair was not the highest bidder for Freebird. Court exhibits obtained in a records request show that AOL Sourcing Group, a Philadelphia-based company, sent a term sheet to Ampleo unsolicited on June 23, proposing to pay $1 million for Freebird. Ampleo then asked Elshair if it was willing to participate in an auction with AOL and was told no.
Ampleo says it could not get in touch with AOL to discuss the term sheet for one week. That, considering the urgency of the situation, compelled it to sell to Elshair instead.
