Supply One Retail Chain Prepares for Full Closure

GRESHAM, OR-Supply One, the Nevada-based retail chain, will close its last remaining Oregon store and all others after the holidays. The nine-store company filed for bankruptcy in August and then closed outlets in Hillsboro and Albany. It planned to keep other locations open indefinitely, including the Gresham location, but last month said all its stores would have to close. Several of the company’s store locations, again including the Gresham location, were acquired from Kent, WA-based Pay N’ Pak in 1991 after that company filed for bankruptcy.

Company officials have said the chain’s financial problems began around the first of the year, when a Y2K-related computer glitch caused inventory control problems. Heavy competition and under performing stores in some of the company’s nine markets compounded the problem. The 16-year-old company owes nearly $20 million to Union Bank and another $6.7 million to more than a dozen unsecured creditors. Supply One is privately held by members of the Steiner family, including John Steiner Jr. and Tim Steiner.