GNC files for bankruptcy and will close up to 1,200 stores

[FernandoRocker]

GNC files for bankruptcy and will close up to 1,200 stores

GNC has filed for bankruptcy, warning it will close up to a quarter of its stores and search for a buyer.

edition.cnn.com

GNC has filed for bankruptcy, warning it will close up to a quarter of its stores and search for a buyer.

The 85-year-old vitamin and dietary supplement company has been saddled with nearly $1 billion of debt and has faced declining sales at its brick-and-mortar locations since before the pandemic. However, GNC said that stay-at-home orders during the Covid-19 pandemic prevented the company from accomplishing its refinancing plans because of the abrupt "dramatic negative impact" on its business.

GNC will continue operating, but it will become a smaller company. It plans to close up to 20% of its 5,800 retail stores, which amounts to as many as 1,200 locations across the United States. GNC also sells its products in an additional 1,200 Rite Aid (RAD) stores.

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[EagleBen]

The snake oil market past them by. It's all about crystals and essential oils now.

Did get a great deal on whey from them last year though.

 

[djplaeskool]

The Retailpocalypse continues unabated, I see.

 

[Deleted member 11069]

I wonder how LIDS is doing, like specialized cable channels or weird print magazines ("Female Diabetes Today"), I have no clue how they survive.

 

[Invisible Cities]

Goddamn do the have a lot of stores.

 

[Deleted member 24079]

Early 2000s vitamin/supplement interest seems to have gone away. I always wondered how the hell this business survived for so long.

 

[Minarik]

Good, screw GNC. All they sold was snake oil and marked up protein powder. They were the GameStop of nutrition/supplements.

 

[Deleted member 12224]

Good, screw GNC. All they sold was snake oil and marked up protein powder. They were the GameStop of nutrition/supplements.

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That really undersells how bad GNC is/was. Their pricing and gimmicks were far worse, and that's not to compliment GameStop.

 

[EJS]

GNC is awful. The markup for their products was INSANE. I hated going in there. So many other better options. Feel for people that lost their jobs, though.

 

[Empyrean Cocytus]

Specialty brick and mortar retail continues taking the L. As long as you can find all this shit for cheaper at Amazon,it's going to go.

 

[Reckheim]

time to invest.

 

[GenericUser]

Eh, I just grabbed clearance things I could use normally and always easy to stack coupons/codes.

 

[el jacko]

I know the pandemic has been extremely damaging to retail, but I'm curious if they have been asset stripped by one of those asset management companies which extract short-term profits for their shareholders. After having read that story about other retailers multiple times, I have no faith that this bankruptcy is *just* due to crisis or whatever.

 

[RolandGunner]

Almost all of these chains that go bankrupt had been bought by private equity firms and took on a bunch of debt. Basically they had enough profit to fight Amazon, or service debt, but not both.

] GNC was taken private and sold to Thomas H. Lee Partners a PE investment/management fund in the late 1980s. Thomas Lee ran GNC and took it public prior to selling the company to Royal Dutch Numico and Numico acquired GNC in 1999;[9] it sold GNC to Apollo Management in 2003.[10] Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan and Ares Management bought GNC in 2007.[11] GNC went public in 2011

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GNC (store) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

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[EYEL1NER]

Almost all of these chains that go bankrupt had been bought by private equity firms and took on a bunch of debt. Basically they had enough profits to fight Amazon, or service debt, but not both.

GNC (store) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

.

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Oh, so it's a Toys R Us situation? Well that makes a lot of sense. Fucking vultures...

 

[Host Samurai]

Time to buy years of pre workout powder for $5

 

[skeptem]

time to invest.

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They are potentially going to be delisted.

 

[Roberto Duran]

They had a lot of stores from what I remember being back in the states. GNC and Bath and Body Works seem to be the only stores in dead malls, they liked to play on hard mode it seemed.

 

[Deleted member 32822]

I feel bad for the employees. GNC however had the most un-competitive pricing (everything significantly cheaper on Amazon) and their sales associates are uncomfortably pushy.

 

[skeptem]

Have a buddy who works for them at their corporate headquarters... Already wished him luck.

 

[Atom Heart Mother]

Always got GNC and GMC mixed up as a kid.

 

[Walter White Walker]

I feel bad for the employees, but otherwise nothing of value will be lost. GNC is snake oil nonsense.

 

[MrHedin]

I wonder how LIDS is doing, like specialized cable channels or weird print magazines ("Female Diabetes Today"), I have no clue how they survive.

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LIDS severely downsized their headquarters a year ago and moved to a much smaller office foot print so things already weren't great for them.

 

[entremet]

I used to get protein powder from them. They were ridiculous with the upselling. Was I alone in noticing this?