Hostapocalypse, Twinkiegate, Twinkocalypse, whatever you’d like to call it, is gaining steam in America. Since Hostess announced that they will be working to liquidate their assets, baked good buyers have stocked up as best as they can. Walk into your local grocery store and see how many boxes of Hostess products are left, its likely there is nary a box of Twinkies or Ho-Hos.
The company is just one of many American brands that have gone bankrupt in the past five years. So while you’re enjoying what remains of your Hostess treats, take a look at what other big name American brands have also gone bankrupt.
- KB Toys. The quintessential mall toy store closed their remaining stores in 2009 after filing for bankruptcy for a 2nd time in four years. You can however find KB Classics at Toys R’Us as the big toy retailer bought the name and remaining KB Toys assets in late 2009.
- Linens N’ Things. The home accessories store began to close its doors in 2008 and sales were scooped up by many consumers. After filing for bankruptcy the thirty year old company said they had plans to emerge out of bankruptcy in 2009. Seeing how popular online shopping had become the company opened their online doors that same year.
- Borders. The use of eBooks has brought big changes to the publishing business. In early 2011 Borders began the process of liquidating 226 stores including Waldenbooks, Borders Express, Borders airport stores, and Borders Outlet stores. Unable to find a buyer the company then began liquidating over 100 more stores with the final stores closing their doors in the summer of 2011.
- Circuit City. Before Best Buy cornered the electronics market Circuit City was your go-to place for TVs, video games, computers, and more. 60 years after Circuit City opened their first store the retailer closed its doors. Circuit City was the 2nd biggest electronics retailer at the time of its liquidation; they closed nearly 600 stores during their final year.
Although Hostess will be joining the ranks of American companies who have gone bankrupt, the Twinkdom wll survive so long as they are able to sell their assets. With $2.5 billion in revenue per year it’s likely that your Twinkies, Ho-Ho’s, Ding Dongs, and Wonder Bread isn’t going anywhere.
