About 60% of Emporium stores are located in Oregon. The rest of the stores are located in Washington, Idaho, California and Nevada. The leaseholds, which range from 16,000 sf to 80,000 sf, are at rates that for the most part are well below market rates. The auction is being held at the 5th Avenue Suites Hotel in Downtown Portland at 11 a.m. on March 10.

Don Gaube of Alamo Group could notimmediately be reached on Wednesday for comment. Al Smith, the Perkins Coie lawyer representing the bankrupt department store chain tells GlobeSt.com that there is considerable interest in the leaseholds on the part of various landlords who want to control their own individual properties. When asked if the properties would be auctioned individually, Smith said it was a difficult question to answer.

"The (bankruptcy) judge granted our request for bid procedures in part and modified it in part," says Smith. "We clearly have the obligation to consider -- although not to accept -- individual offers on individual properties; it really depends on how many offers there are and at what price as to how the auction will go."

Pre-auction bids were due today (Wednesday, March 5) at 5 p.m., but Smith tells GlobeSt.com that the deadline isn't set in stone. "Frankly, we have to deal with things as they come in," he says. "If people come in late because they didn't know about it, we would then have to find out if we can accept them."

The contact for people interested in making bids before or during the auction is Emporium CEO Ron Schiff. He can be reached at (541)746-9611.

Emporium, a privately held family department store operator, filed for protection under Chapter 11 of the Federal Bankruptcy Code on Jan 14, 2003. Liquidation sales at the five-state chain's 34 locations began on Friday.

The going-out-of-business sales are being conducted by a joint venture consisting of Buxbaum Group (Calabasas, Calif.), SB Capital Group (New York) and Tiger Capital Group (Boston). The liquidators were approved last Thursday by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for District of Oregon, in Eugene.

Instant Insights /

Alamo Group has Inside Track for Emporium Leaseholds

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