Whitehall cuts HQ staff as jeweler liquidates
(Crain’s) — Whitehall Jewelers is cutting nearly all of its corporate staff as it continues its liquidation process.
The Chicago-based retailer on Aug. 4 began eliminating 150 jobs at its headquarters, according to documents filed with the Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity in August.
The paperwork, released Wednesday, was in compliance with the state’s Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act.
A Whitehall representative was not available for comment.
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Whitehall Jewelers filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on June 23 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware and is in the process of liquidating its assets.
The company, which was founded in 1895 as Marks Bros. Jewelers, recently sold 15 of its Illinois stores and two of its Missouri stores to Michael Hill International Ltd. of New Zealand for $5.5 million.
Whitehall listed 2,852 employees, the bulk of them working at stores, in a bankruptcy court document. That left roughly 200 people at its 125 S. Wacker Drive headquarters.
