One of the Valley's most prominent entrepreneurial businesses, Terri's Consign and Design Furnishings, has filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy after years of complaints that it wasn't paying its consignment customers.
A May 23 article in the Arizona Republic
noted how the 31-year-old business owned by Terri Bowersock had been
foundering for the past few years, accused of failing to pay people who
brought in furniture to sell on consignment.
Now, it looks like thousands of the customers will be left holding the bag.
We've seen higher estimated debt-loads for bankrupt businesses -- Terri's estimates it owes between $1 million and $10 million.
But the June 4 filing seems different than others we've seen because of the sheer volume of creditors, estimated at 1,000 to 5,000.
A phone call to Terri's Phoenix attorney wasn't immediately returned, nor was a message left at one of the chain's remaining locations.
The high number of creditors probably comes from the way the company allegedly conducted business in recent months. After customers brought in a piece of furniture to sell, Terri's didn't always cut a check for the customer's share of the sale, the Republic reported.
Anyone waiting on a check from Terri's at this point can relax -- it probably ain't ever coming.
