Toycity becomes latest e-tail casualty
- Added:
- Jul 31, 2000
The company, which launched in the UK in November, is to close its business, the news coinciding with the announcement from natural heath e-tailer Clickmango that it is shutting down due to lack of funding.
Though still hoping for a rescue, Toycity has filed for Chapter 11, the US equivalent of liquidation, despite being based in Denmark and operating entirely in Europe and says it hopes to make a come back soon.
However, the company, which appointed ex-eToys founder Jonathan Thorpe as UK general manager in January, has confirmed on its website it has stopped taking orders due to lack of funds.
The website reads: “Thank you to our customers. Toycity.com is not currently taking orders. Orders will be fulfilled for those customers who ordered up until midnight on Thursday 27th July 2000.”
“Since March this year, the financial markets have witnessed a certain amount of turbulence and we have unfortunately been unable to raise the necessary capital to continue Toycity operations in their current form. We would like to thank our customers for their support and hope that they have enjoyed shopping with us.”
It adds: “Please check back frequently for updates.”
The collapse comes in the same weekend as Clickmango said it had failed to gain either private backing or firm strategic partnerships with offline players in time to guarantee its future.
The moves have drawn pessimism from other online players who have found the struggle for venture capital funding too hard to endure since the collapse in dotcom stocks earlier this year. It is thought that only a few pure online retail players will survive the funding drought, with even pilot e-tailers such as Amazon coming under fire from investors.
