A California appliance chain abruptly shut down its stores, reportedly giving little notice to employees and leaving customers with pending orders in the dark.
Howard’s Appliance, a 79-year-old retail chain based in the City of Industry, had several locations in eastern Los Angeles and Riverside, as well as in Long Beach, Laguna Hills and Torrance.
Stores have been shuttered and the chain’s website is down, even though some customers have paid for orders and are still waiting for deliveries.
The company gave employees two days’ notice that they would be laid off, the Orange County Register reported. In the notice, a Howard’s manager Isaiah Padilla wrote that the company was closing its business operations due to “circumstances beyond our control,” the Register wrote.
Howard’s was acquired in April by the Newport Beach-based private equity firm S5 Equity, which was tasked with turning around the struggling company. At the time, Howard’s Chief Executive Peter Boutrous said he was optimistic about prospects for a turnaround.
“With this acquisition, Howard’s is now poised for the future,” Boutros said in a press release in April.
The company began as a radio repair shop in San Gabriel and had since expanded to offer a range of home appliances, mattresses and TVs. It was a leading independent appliance retailer in Southern California for decades.
According to social media reports and the Orange County Register, several customers have been left in limbo after paying for appliances.
“My parent just ordered a new range from Howard’s and then saw this morning they are all closing?” wrote one Orange County resident on Reddit. “They haven’t received the range yet and apparently all the stores are closing as of tomorrow,” they wrote on Friday.
The post has received more than 200 comments.
Store representatives could not be reached at several Howard’s locations contacted by The Times. The website leads to an error message that reads “www.howards.com unexpectedly closed the connection.”
Other companies have shut down in California or relocated outside of the state, citing a challenging business and regulatory environment.
Bed Bath & Beyond, which once sold appliances and home goods at more than 80 California stores, filed for bankruptcy in 2023. In August, the company’s executive chairman said he would not reopen locations in the Golden State as the company moves to recover.
“California has created one of the most overregulated, expensive, and risky environments for businesses,” Beyond Inc. executive chairman Marcus Lemonis said in a statement posted on X at the time. “It’s a system that makes it harder to employ people, harder to keep doors open, and harder to deliver value to customers.”
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