Hawaii’s Hilo Hattie stores have filed for bankruptcy with the hope of surviving as one of the island’s popular spots for tourists to buy travel trinkets and souvenirs, the Wall Street Journal reported today. The struggling chain, which recently closed three of its seven stores, filed for bankruptcy protection on Thursday with $2.2 million worth of inventory. In documents filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Honolulu, Chief Operating Officer Mark Storfer blamed the company’s problems on slow sales. In the company’s most recent fiscal year, it sold about $15.6 million worth of products — down from $23.6 million the year before. The retailer has begun to face collection and eviction actions “against which the [company] does not have a viable defense,” Storfer said.
