Friedman’s Inc. begins sale of stores

Friedman’s Inc. had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on January 25 2008 under an involuntary Chapter 7 petition filed by a group of creditors on January 22. But as its planned auction did not yield good results, the company has put up its stores for sale beginning April 5, 2008.

The stores are known under the Friedman’s and Crescent brand names and are approximately 473 in number. The inventory is valued at approximately $400 million includes women’s and men’s fine and fashion jewellery, in diamonds, other precious stones, gold and silver, and watches.. The sale is scheduled to span 10 to 12 weeks.

As part of the liquidation sale, 377 Friedman’s and Crescent stores in 23 US states will be up for sale. Friedman is in talks with WFC Acquisition Corp., a Whitehall Jewelers division, to sell 78 other stores. Three national retail liquidation and asset recovery firms are managing the sale: Great American Group, Hudson Capital Partners and Silverman Jeweler Consultants Inc.