The longtime local retailer has been shut down for the past week as former owner Harvey Fox, the employees he sold the company to and its creditors lobbied in court to resolve financial woes. The judge's action gave the company the ability to appoint a trustee this week to reopen and manage the business during the reorganization.

Fox, who owned the chain for 45 years and built it from one to six stores, is owed more than $2 million by the employees who agreed to purchase the company through a five-year buyout plan that the new owners were unable to follow through on, forcing Fox to foreclose on the business. Late last month, Marion County Judge Richard Barber ordered a liquidation sale on Nov. 22. Creditors, however, with hope of getting more money per dollar owed, were able to postpone the sale. Instead, the company closed its last remaining doors in Salem and let go all of its employees as it waited for a subsequent court decision.