KUALA LUMPUR: Unless you’ve been taking part in the ‘Bird Box’ challenge, it couldn’t have escaped your notice that Crabtree & Evelyn outlets nationwide are holding an all-items-must-go (the Apocalypse is upon us) sale.
While this might seem like an orgasmic windfall for fanatics of the high-end body and lifestyle products brand, the reason for the sale (for those of you who have been busy with the ‘A Quiet World’ challenge) is that the company is bankrupt and has begun the agonising process of closing all it stores worldwide, save for a single concept store in Islington, London.
According to a report by the Straits Times today, the UK-based company filed for bankruptcy protection in Quebec, Canada in December last year, in advance of liquidating its inventory to distribute proceeds to creditors.
Crabtree & Evelyn said it had suffered “significant losses” due to the rise of e-commerce, the decline of traditional retail traffic and changing consumer demand (we are ALL to blame).
But all is not lost – according to the Straits Times, the company is moving its entire business online, and it has already launched e-commerce sites in Australia, Singapore and, yes, Malaysia. (You can follow the scent of perfumed candles to http://www.crabtree-evelyn.com/my/en right now).
An interesting side note on Crabtree & Evelyn: founded in the US in 1972, the company was owned, for a relatively brief 13 years, by Kuala Lumpur Kepong Berhad. (Thank heavens they didn’t change its name to Rambutantree & Latipah). The local connection makes it doubly sad that the brand’s stores are closing their doors – but again, we can all wipe away our tears with their divine gardening gloves, still available at their Malaysian website. See you there.