Cherry Lane losing three fashion retailers

PENTICTON – Penticton’s largest shopping mall is losing three high profile tenants at the end of April.

Cleo, Bootlegger and Ricki’s will be closing their doors in Cherry Lane Mall around the end of April, according to media spokesperson Nick Anstett.

The three stores operate under the umbrella of parent organization Comark, a Canadian specialty fashion retailer. Comark announced it was seeking creditor protection last week.

“To be clear, the stores will be closing in and around 30 days from now, technically 30 days from when landlords first received notice,” Anstett said.

He said customers will still be able to access online stores. Customers with email accounts with one or more of the stores will likely receive an email directing them to other locations nearby.

Anstett could not say why the company was closing all three stores in Penticton.

“It’s nothing specific to the community, the decision was made on a number of stores. There is a total of 56 stores closing across the country. The company had in excess of 300 stores, now they are down to around 300,” he said, adding the 56 stores that are closing are spread out across the country and across the three brands. “They were simply selected for reasons that make sense to the company, to make sure they could restructure the operation to continue to serve customers out of our remaining stores in the most effective way."

Anstett couldn’t give exact numbers of employees affected by the closures, but estimated between 20 to 30 full- and part-time jobs would be lost. 

“It’s unfortunate when all three are in one mall,” Anstett said.

Cherry Lane Shopping Centre General Manager Judy Richards was unable to comment on the closures at this time.

The 236,149 square foot shopping mall contains 63 stores and services, and is anchored by London Drugs, Save-On-Foods and The Bay.

To contact the reporter for this story, email Steve Arstad at sarstad@infonews.ca or call 250-488-3065. To contact the editor, email mjones@infonews.ca or call 250-718-2724.