simply•mac Unexpectedly Shuts Down Amid Insolvency

10 JUNE 2022 - News that is 100% bummer: The nation’s other chain of Apple stores, simply•mac, closed down yesterday. MacRumors had word of the disappointing news. In a letter to employees sent Thursday, MacRumors says:

…simply•mac CEO Rein Voigt said the company is shutting down its operations and terminating all employees effective immediately in anticipation of filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in the United States, which will result in complete liquidation of the company.

Talk about bad timing. The piece quotes Voigt’s letter, saying:

Since our acquisition of simply•mac from GameStop on September 25, 2019, we have worked hard as a team to grow our company to be North America's preeminent Apple Partner and provide our customers with transformational experiences that drive long-term loyalty… However, we could not have possibly foreseen that on December 12, 2019 in Wuhan, China a world-wide pandemic would start and ultimately cause us to layoff half our workforce and close many of our stores.

Not surprisingly, the chain’s financial performance “never met (…) expectations.” No kidding. They had five-and-a-half-months from the time they bought the chain until the world went into lockdown.

Just a really awful story.