Swine Flu Bankrupts Airport Toy Retailer

[Mulboyne]

AP: Osaka toy retailer goes bust in 1st case linked with new flu
The Osaka District Court decided Thursday to begin bankruptcy proceedings for an Osaka-based toy retailer which went bust due to sluggish sales at airports as people using the facilities decreased as a result of the spreading new-influenza infection on top of effects of the global recession. Teikoku Databank, a private credit research agency, said the retailer, Iseya, went under with combined liabilities of about 290 million yen in the first case of bankruptcy in Japan linked with the new H1N1 strain of influenza A. The retailer ran shops to sell toys and miscellaneous goods at Kansai International Airport and Itami airport -- both in the Osaka area -- and at Narita International Airport near Tokyo. An employee of Iseya said, "We received an additional blow with the influenza at a time when travelers had already decreased due to the global economic downturn."

[IkemenTommy]

The shop should have carried those white masks en mass instead. They would have sold like crazy.

[Mulboyne]

You have to think that the firm was teetering on the brink before swine flu had any impact. Blaming it on factors beyond your control allows you to save a bit of face when you tell staff and suppliers that you can't pay them. Also, if the government sets up some kind of fund to compensate businesses for losses incurred by events like swine flu then they may be in a position to submit a claim.

[2triky]

You have to think that the firm was teetering on the brink before swine flu had any impact. Blaming it on factors beyond your control allows you to save a bit of face when you tell staff and suppliers that you can't pay them. Also, if the government sets up some kind of fund to compensate businesses for losses incurred by events like swine flu then they may be in a position to submit a claim.