Shoes.com shuts down operations

In an abrupt move, Shoes.com pulled the plug on its operations on Friday, Jan. 27.



The company, which said in September it was preparing for its next phase of growth, took its three e-commerce businesses, Shoes.com, ShoeMe.ca and OnlineShoes.com, offline, and closed the doors to two brick-and-mortar locations in Vancouver and Toronto.



Shoes.com is working with its lenders to liquidate its assets, and intends to assign some or all of its companies into bankruptcy, the company reported.



According to Shoes.com, employees were informed of the plan on Friday morning, and will be compensated through the end of the month.



Among the retailer’s biggest rivals were e-tailer Shoebuy.com, which Walmart’s Jet.com division purchased earlier this month for $70 million, and Zappos, which is owned by e-commerce behemoth Amazon.com.