Holiday shoppers at the Blue Tulip store in Bronxville were pleasantly surprised to find prices steeply discounted in late December. The high-end gift retailer at the corner of Pondfield Road and Cedar Street was clearing the store of merchandise in preparation to permanently close its doors. Bordentown, N.J.-based Blue Tulip Corp. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Delaware on Jan. 5. The company had 24 stores in the Northeast and an e-commerce site, which has been removed.                                                                                                    Â
The retailer did not list its assets or creditors in its filing. The court has a scheduled meeting with Blue Tulip”™s creditors on Jan. 30. The company, which was founded in 2002, plans to liquidate, according to court documents. Before it was shut down, the company”™s Web site described Blue Tulip as “a one-of-a-kind, unique store built around the importance of celebrating family, friends and the occasions that bring us together.”
The company often hosted fundraisers at its stores, offering nonprofits the opportunity to hold a one-day event where 15 percent of all sales are donated. Armonk resident Dr. Kathy Reilly Fallon, president and founder of Heavenly Productions Foundation, a children”™s charity, held such an event at the Bronxville store Oct. 25.      Â
Fallon was promised a check for 15 percent of sales from the day, a total of $50, within 8 weeks after the event was held. She has not received the money.                                                                                         Â
“Blue Tulip, or at least their corporate office, knew what their finances were the last quarter, and to think they kept on telling charities to do functions with them,” Fallon said, allowing the thought to trail off. “They also wanted Heavenly Productions to do one the week of Christmas. I am so happy I never committed to that with them.”                                                                                                       Â
In an e-mail to Fallon, which Fallon forwarded to the Business Jounal, Jacqueline A. D’Angelis, manager of accounts payable at the Blue Tulip Corp., stated, “I do not show any monies paid out to Heavenly Productions Foundation. Sadly for all of us, Blue Tulip filed bankruptcy Chapter 11 on Jan. 5 in Delaware. Any liabilities incurred prior to Jan. 5 are now considered pre-petition liabilities and cannot be paid out at this time.”                                                                             Â
Blue Tulip President Patrick Farrell was unavailable for comment. John Gordon, president of Admiral Real Estate Services Corp., which is responsible for 60 percent of commercial leasing activity in downtown Bronxville, is the exclusive leasing agent for the landlord.Â
Gordon said Blue Tulip moved into the 4,500-square-foot space at 116 Pondfield Road in 2003.
Prior to that, the Gap operated a store there that opened in 1997.
There is still term left on Blue Tulip”™s lease, Gordon said. “They would like to get out of their obligations as quickly as possible,” Gordon said of Blue Tulip. “Ideally, what I”™d like to see is something unique going into the space.” Now that Blue Tulip has closed, Bronxville still has two other gift card stores in its shopping district: Papyrus, a chain gift card store on Pondfield Road, and Kensington Paper on Kraft Avenue.                                                                                                     Â
Gordon said there are currently two vacant stores in the village that his company is responsible for, including the largely empty Blue Tulip store. “It seems when things are really good, Bronxville does well, maybe not the ”˜boom boom”™ sales that may happen in Greenwich or Scarsdale, but when things get bad, Bronxville seems to weather the storm a bit better in terms of sales and vacancies,” Gordon said.
