Adventure 16 closes two stores

Adventure 16 has been forced to do what many in the industry might have thought unthinkable just a few years ago – it has closed two of its stores as it fights to stay afloat in a challenging economy.

On Feb. 23, it shut the doors of its CAMP store in Costa Mesa, ending Adventure 16’s 21-year tenure in that community. That came on the heels a closure in late December of its 12,000- square-foot Torrance, Calif., store, which had been open for only three years, John Mead, president of Adventure 16, told SNEWS®. In all, 20 employees are now without work.

Mead told us that closing the under-performing stores helps his company dramatically, especially when combined with other efforts by the company to shave costs.

“We have a multi-point strategy in place,” Mead told us. “We have been able to renegotiate our leases with our landlords at our San Diego, West L.A., Tarzana, Solana Beach and Oceanside locations, cutting rents by 30 percent. In addition, we had a few layoffs in our central office and we took pay cuts to reduce payroll by 30 percent.”

All inventories from the closed stores was absorbed by the existing stores, Mead said.

In an email to vendors that was shared with SNEWS, Mead said, “Please know that we greatly appreciate all you and your company did to help us in both Torrance and Costa Mesa. All of us at A16 look forward to working with you to find the opportunities that lay hidden in the challenging times ahead.”

On the bright side, Mead said its wholesale division was performing very well in this economy, in large part because “when things are tight and retailers want to turn inventory faster, they are turning to us to help them do that.”

Also helping, Mead said, is the fact customers, both at his stores and at stores who do business with A16 wholesale, are buying accessories even when they are not purchasing larger items.