Time runs out at top clock retailer based in City of Industry.

Time runs out at top clock retailer based in City of Industry

The clock struck 12 at City of Industry-based Ted's Clock Emporium Inc., sending alarm throughout Southland-area specialty retailers.

Following 30 years of service to clock watchers, Ted's filed a Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition last week. Neither the company's liabilities nor assets had been established by press time. Owner Anthony Vitale would not comment.

"High-end merchandise, high-price designer items will be impacted more (by the current slump in retail sales) than the good old plain wrapper variety," said David Holt, director of technical research for Los Angeles-based Wedbush Morgan Securities.

Selling luxury items like Ted's grandfather clocks or department store furs are risky endeavors during uncertain times because cautious consumers are less likely to buy on impulse, said Jon Goodman, director of The Entrepreneur Program at USC.

Ted's has been selling ways to tell time for 30 years and was reportedly the nation's largest clock retailer. Prices range from $279 for some decorator clocks to $7,395 for the most expensive grandfather clocks. A modest floor clock runs about $1,000, one employee said.

According to Ted's Clock's attorney Gary Plotkin of Encino-based Plotkin and Rapoport, the bankruptcy filing resulted from poor performance of Ted's Clock manufacturing subsidiary, Westwood Clock Inc. Ted's Clock absorbed the losses and has since closed the subsidiary.

Some of Ted's creditors include Holland, Mich.-based Sligh Furniture Co., which is owed $373,606; Pulaski, Va.-based Ridgeway Clocks, which has $185,329 in claims; and El Segundo-based Gateway Time, which is owed $160,293.

Ted's stores are located in Glendale, Northridge, Thousand Oaks, Torrance, Brea, Cerritos and City of Industry.

The clock may be ticking for other specialty retailers as well.

Layoffs at Southland aerospace companies, and jitters about the national economy in general, have impacted high-end retail sales.

The slowdown already affected crystal, china and silver retailer David Orgell, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the midst of holiday shopping last November. At one time, Orgell operated five stores, but now the business is restricted to its Beverly Hills location.

Oak Brook, Ill.-based Spiegel Inc. is also faring poorly. The nationwide seller of specialty merchandise, whose subsidiary, Eddie Bauer, an apparel retailer, operates nine stores in Los Angeles. Spiegel stock fell last Aug. 20 from $20 a share to $16 a share.

"We feel it has to do with the macroeconomic environment out there. Consumers are very concerned with what is going on in the Middle East," Spiegel spokeswoman Debbie Koopman said.

And David Marks, chief executive officer of Cerritos-based The Bank of Antique Reproductions, said, business has been "spotty" this year, although sales have ironically picked up during the past three weeks.

Independent specialty retail stores face more obstacles than economic trends, according to Tom Tasjian, a consumer analyst with Los Angeles-based Seidler Amdec Securities.

"The nature of the specialty retail industry is an entrepreneurial mom-and-pop type business. Innate in the persona of retailing is the fact that many operators move into retail with inadequate amounts of capital and experience," he said.

"It is a high-turnover business; roughly 40 percent of independent single unit Retail stores survive beyond three years," he added.

Holt, of security firm Wedbush Morgan, analyzed 192 industries on a relative strength basis with No. 1, South African gold, being the strongest and the last, community housing, being the weakest. Overall, necessity products outdid luxury items.

Pharmaceuticals were number 23 on the list and retail food rated 54, while retail department stores rated 145, mail order houses rated 152 and furniture retailers rated 176.

"Under the current economic and world environments the obvious benefactors are oil, gold, silver, drugs, food and to a certain extent utilities because they are perceived to be a much safer harbor. Capital will flow into defensive areas of necessities rather than luxuries," Holt said.

However, Rodeo Drive establishments seem immune to world events and their effect on the economy. Sales at David Orgell climbed in July and August.

"We are the exception here. To us the months of July and August were incredibly good. Our month of July was better than December," said Bijan Sotudeh, executive director of David Orgell.

Tourist traffic is heavy this summer. There is a particular influx of Italians, Sotodeh said.

Sergio Baril, executive vice president and general manager of Fred's USA jewelry store concurred.

"We have steady traffic. We're finding quite a bit of tourists from Europe this year, especially from Italy, and people from the Middle East are buying," he said.

"Always things could be better, but taking everything into consideration, our business hasn't been effected.

Holt put the purchase of specialty items into perspective.

"If you're going to little Susie's wedding, you know you're going to curtail it. Instead of getting her two Waterford glasses, you might only get one. You're still going to go to the wedding and get a gift for the bride, but you're not going to be quite as liberal as you might have been if we didn't have all of these uncertainties facing us."

Among the other major creditors listed in the bankruptcy filing of Ted's Clock are: Welby/Elgin Clocks, $120,312; Howard Miller Clock Co., $105,799; Anton Schneider Sohne, $93,192; Treasure Chest Advertising, $67,726; and Los Angeles Times, $50,541.

PHOTO : Reorganizing: The clock may be ticking for other specialty retailers, as well