Apple Reseller 'Simply Mac' Shuts Down

[MacRumors]

Apple reseller and service provider Simply Mac is shutting down effective immediately after nearly sixteen years of business, the company announced internally.

In a letter to employees today, obtained by MacRumors from multiple sources, Simply Mac CEO Rein Voigt said the company is shutting down its operations and terminating all employees effective immediately in anticipation of filing for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in the United States, which will result in complete liquidation of the company.

"Since our acquisition of Simply Mac from GameStop on September 25, 2019, we have worked hard as a team to grow our company to be North America's preeminent Apple Partner and provide our customers with transformational experiences that drive long-term loyalty," said Voigt, in the letter to employees. "However, we could not have possibly foreseen that on December 12, 2019 in Wuhan, China a world-wide pandemic would start and ultimately cause us to layoff half our workforce and close many of our stores."

Voigt said that Simply Mac's financial performance "never met our expectations" since the former GameStop subsidiary was acquired by Cool Holdings, Inc. in 2019. Due to "funding constraints," Voigt added that Simply Mac was "unable to adequately stock our stores with inventory or stay current with our financial obligations."

Voigt added that Simply Mac will be unable to pay employees tomorrow or in the future, and noted that all employees will receive a notice from the bankruptcy court in due course and have an opportunity to submit a claim, according to the letter.

As of January 2022, Simply Mac operated 53 retail stores across the United States. Many of Simply Mac's stores were located in cities that lacked an Apple Store, providing residents with a local alternative for Apple products and repairs.

Article Link: Apple Reseller 'Simply Mac' Shuts Down

 

[markfc]

Wow that’s awful for the employees but Apple shaft resellers.

 

[Pressf1]

Glad PeachMac is still around... oh, wait, they got bought by SimplyMac. sadtrombone.com

 

[4ubrey]

Bankruptcy is rarely a surprise choice for a business. That they ran it this thin and knew what was coming and then couldn’t pay their employees is absolutely lame and probably driven by greed from whoever owns this.

So lame.

 

[macmac30]

What do you want to bet that the CEO got his last paycheck…

 

[exoticSpice]

Wow that’s awful for the employees but Apple shaft resellers.

In this case it wasn't apples fault

 

[vartanarsen]

Why do we allow something like this to happen. Someone does a risky startup to become a millionaire, but hey, if it fails, its on me and you!

 

[kirbyrun]

That he felt compelled to specify that the pandemic began "in Wuhan, China" is...interesting.

I mean, everyone knows where the pandemic began. How is its origin point relevant to this bankruptcy? Its existence? Sure! But its origin?

Weird.

 

[sw1tcher]

... Voigt added that Simply Mac was "unable to adequately stock our stores with inventory or stay current with our financial obligations."

Too bad Simply Mac wasn't publicly traded. The traders who rescued GameStop and AMC could have stepped in to rescue Simply Mac. Instead of 🚀, it's now

😥

 

[TheYayAreaLiving 🎗️]

Dang! 16 years later. Tough pill to swallow. Reminds me of Radio Shack in the U.S.

 

[PlayUltimate]

That he felt compelled to specify that the pandemic began "in Wuhan, China" is...interesting.

I mean, everyone knows where the pandemic began. How is its origin point relevant to this bankruptcy? Its existence? Sure! But its origin?

Weird.

I suspect the intent is to show that it was unforeseen (ie. not local). And yes, both weird and unnecessary. (Wonder if they got an PPP $$)

 

[ddtmm]

That's too bad, especially for cities that have no official Apple Store. I have had very good experiences with a few authorized Apple dealers here in Toronto, where we also have 3 Apple Stores, and I prefer the authorized dealers' service over Apple's. They seem a bit more in touch with the end user and are more inclined to fix things than sell new ones.

 

[Yr Blues]

That he felt compelled to specify that the pandemic began "in Wuhan, China" is...interesting.

I mean, everyone knows where the pandemic began. How is its origin point relevant to this bankruptcy? Its existence? Sure! But its origin?

Weird.

Perhaps they get their supplies from there and the latest lockdowns broke the camel's back?

 

[kanki1985]

Blaming it on pandemic is total utter nonsense. I mean, did you see the US, it was more crowded that pre-pandemic and the stock market shot up because consumer spending was off charts.

 

[Nixiiao]

That he felt compelled to specify that the pandemic began "in Wuhan, China" is...interesting.

I mean, everyone knows where the pandemic began. How is its origin point relevant to this bankruptcy? Its existence? Sure! But its origin?

Weird.

“Pandemic begin in Wuhan” and “COVID-19” are just 2 different ways to represent the same thing. No need to read too much about it.

 

[GuruZac]

Huge bummer for me. That's the closest thing to an Apple store within and 1.5 hours drive. I have had screen repairs and battery repairs done there and they did excellent work.

 

[fuchsdh]

That he felt compelled to specify that the pandemic began "in Wuhan, China" is...interesting.

I mean, everyone knows where the pandemic began. How is its origin point relevant to this bankruptcy? Its existence? Sure! But its origin?

Weird.

While I don't blame you for finding it off, I think it's really just supposed to feed into the rhetoric of "there was nothing we could do", in terms of "little did we know, across the world, in this place none of us had heard of before..."

Feel bad for the employees, but retail is a terrible business at the best of times. Surprised they hung on as long as they did.

 

[imnotthewalrus]

That's too bad, especially for cities that have no official Apple Store. I have had very good experiences with a few authorized Apple dealers here in Toronto, where we also have 3 Apple Stores, and I prefer the authorized dealers' service over Apple's. They seem a bit more in touch with the end user and are more inclined to fix things than sell new ones.

You're lucky. I've been to 3 different ones, 2 in North Carolina and 1 in Tennessee and all 3 were abysmal. No one acknowledged me in any of them, and I was the only customer in the store...which I felt was self-explanatory!

 

[FreakinEurekan]

Ouch, that’s one of our local AASPs. Fortunately we still have Best Buy and another local. I’ll bet a few repairs will be stuck in limbo though 😬

 

[Nixiiao]

Blaming it on pandemic is total utter nonsense. I mean, did you see the US, it was more crowded that pre-pandemic and the stock market shot up because consumer spending was off charts.

Technically they’re not shutting down when pandemic stars, or 2020/2021. They closed when NASDAQ dropped 30% and before potential big recession. Even Apple needs months to deliver a high end MacBook Pro during current shortages.

 

[jimbobb24]

they also face online competition which grew during govt shut downs. Lots of trouble for brick and mortar.

 

[yabeweb]

In this case it wasn't apples fault

Well if you knew the margins Apple gives you.... at least here in Italy, it's hard to make a living with the % they offer to resellers.

 

[GuruZac]

Dang! 16 years later. Touch pill to swallow. Reminds me of Radio Shack in the U.S.

Totally. Would be awesome if Apple opened up smaller satellite stores at the same locations and employed the same people.

 

[Freeangel1]

Another causality of the APPLE SILICON TRANSITION.

APPLE owns everything now. Hardware All repairs.

NEXT. OWC. other world computing.

 

[mi7chy]

Should've diversified to Simply GPU/PC/Mac. Stores that sold GPUs raked in the money the last several years.