The pre-holiday ringing of cash registers failed to stave off the post-holiday woes of two large Canadian retailers – Dylex and Pennington’s Stores.

Pennington’s was unsuccesssful in restructuring under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act and was forced into bankruptcy at the end of December.

Closing 200 stores

Early this month, Dylex announced it was closing 200 of its nearly 900 stores, and cutting 1,800 jobs as part of its attempt to restructure.

Dylex’s largest chains – BiWay, Tip Top Tailors, Thriftys, and Fairweather – are affected by the cuts.

Braemar, Club Monaco, Harry Rosen and Fashion Rack stores are not.

Agency Padulo

Padulo Integrated of Toronto is the agency for Tip Top, Thriftys and Fairweather, which account for more than half of Dylex’s stores and a major piece of its advertising spending, tabbed at $8.5 million in 1993.

Rick Padulo, agency president and chief executive officer, has had Dylex as a client for more than 20 years, both with his 10-year-old agency, and, before that, at Saffer Advertising.

‘I think Dylex will come out of the restructuring strong, and I expect they’ll be a client for 20 more years,’ Padulo says.

In the interim, Padulo Integrated and other suppliers are continuing to work for Dylex on a cod basis.

Prism

Pennington’s handled its $3-million advertising account in-house before hiring Prism Communications of Toronto last June, too late to save the chain of 143 large-sized women’s fashion stores.

This month, Reitman’s, which operates close to 600 women’s apparel stores, agreed to buy the more than 30 Pennington’s Wearhouse stores, along with the names Pennington’s Wearhouse, Pennington’s and Liz Porter from the trustee of bankrupt company for $1.5 million.

The remaining 110 mall locations operating as Pennington’s and Liz Porter have not yet been sold. PS