The trials and tribulations of corporate bankruptcy have come to an end for Tweeter. The firm was granted Chapter 7 status, presumably allowing the stores to be reopened, but a recent filing makes it clear that this plan has gone up in smoke due to the associated expenses and logistical difficulties. So now it's for the trustee, one George Miller, to vacate as many retail locations as possible, clear out unsold inventory, empty the corporate offices and even pick up the keys to company vehicles; all by December 31, in time for the warehouse sale. Given the developments on the company's website, this end is probably for the best -- except for employees who reportedly have not been given their bonuses or vacation time pay. Tweeter, we hardly knew ye.

[Image courtesy highfihoney]

Not that we haven't seen websites hacked in good fun before, but this is downright disturbing. Just hours after getting word that the many faces of Tweeter were all fading away into the sunset (to put it nicely), an apparently disgruntled employee has showcased his / her 1337 hax0r skills by totally transforming Tweeter.com's main page. Let's just say it's less than becoming (and the block censor is ours), but the full screen grab is down below if you care to indulge. Hey, if you're going to burn a bridge, you might as well leave it in ruins, right?

[Thanks, Jason]

Update: Fun while it lasted! Now surfing over to Tweeter.com takes you to... nowhere. Check a cached page in the gallery below for a long lasting memory.

The long-suffering Tweeter chain has thrown in the towel and closed its remaining stores, including those under the Sound Advice, Showcase and HiFi Buys banners. We heard about the Sound Advice news almost a month ago, so there's a definite note of inevitability to this news. CEPro is reporting that the future of the unsold inventory which was cleared out of the Tweeter distribution centers when liquidators stepped in and now sitting on showroom floors remains in question. It's definitely been a rocky year or so for the Tweeter chain, which has already come back from bankruptcy once before, but somehow we think the current economic climate will make for a long hibernation this time around.

It's not like folks in the market for custom-install gear go to big box retailers like Circuit City and Tweeter for their "fix," but who can deny the way that those Sunday paper ads get the imagination going about how to improve your digital lifestyle? Prognosticators of all things CE, NPD Group, says that the diminishing fortunes of these big box stores will be felt at specialty dealers, and not necessarily in a good way. Sure, the disappearance of all that advertisement money from the CE pool might hurt awareness; but in the end, we know all those displaced regular customers of Circuit City and/or Tweeter will need to shop somewhere, so it's also an opportunity for smaller shops. Tough times are ahead, but there's also opportunity for retailers who can provide top-notch service.

It's Halloween, and things are looking scary for Tweeter, which has already risen once from the grave. The company was purchased by a liquidator last night and the entire stock of goodies at the distribution centers has been forwarded to the retail stores. Sure, that's one way to shave $12 million off the operating costs, but asking manufacturers to ship to individual retail outlets probably isn't the most efficient way to run things. As if that's not bad enough, calls to the corporate office by TWICE have been greeted by a recording that states the corporate offices have been closed and then go unanswered. Optimists see this change in operations as a way for Tweeter to forge ahead, but this looks like a clear-out if you ask us. What's your take?

[Via CEPro]

You don't have to have a Nobel Prize in economics to know that the current state of the economy is bad news for sales of HT gear, but it would be doubly bad for a company that, say, was just trying to get business moving again after emerging from bankruptcy. Enter Tweeter, which only this past summer was retooling stores into "electronic playgrounds." The company's CEO has been replaced by a restructuring firm exec (aka axeman) who quickly got down to business by putting Tweeter operations into a "temporary transition period," and we've got a bad feeling that means the electronic playground just got a lot rougher.

Our friends at CEPro got a chance to stroll through the newly-designed Tweeter concept store in Dedham, MA with their camera, and it sounds like they came away impressed. After reading their impressions, we want to check out one of these stores as well -- it looks like the kind of playground we could while away some summer hours in. The store design emphasizes careful setup and consumer education rather than the sheer number of stock units on display. As we all know, the effort of forming a short list of items to audition can be totally undone by lackluster demo environment, which is all too common in the big box stores that dominate the retail channel. By integrating the gear into home-like settings and liberally sprinkling the "Try Me" buttons around for automated demos, consumers can get a better feel for how the gear they're considering will fit in with their home, which we're guessing isn't dominated by flood lamps, aisle shelving, industrial carpeting and 30-foot ceilings.

[Image courtesy CEPro]

Tweeter stores (now formally known as Tweeter Opco) has had a rough go of things over the past year, but is hoping that a little experimentation in April will help get things moving in the right direction. First up, a new store that features a "Playground" design will be opening in Chicago's Lincoln Park. We pretty much think of any store with aisles of gadgets as a playground, but these stores feature home-like "vignette" settings that demonstrate how the gear will fit into your lifestyle. Tweeter will also be testing a totally new store concept at a remodeled Boston location. No details were given about what changes are involved, but the company's CEO says "It's quite a step forward." If it's better than a "playground," we can only imagine it's an "amusement park" at the minimum, and we're hoping for "mind-blowing dreamscape." We're all for some more competition, and we're guessing the new concept will be aimed at a more upscale market than typical "big box" stores. And besides, we're always looking for new places to haunt.

Life can be hard for upper-end electronic relaters these days. Well with Walmart poking fun at 'em in commercials and Home Depot contemplating getting into flat screen sales but we strongly feel that stores like Tweeters will find that niche they need to survive. They will not, and shouldn't, compete with big box pushers like Best Buy and Circuit City's but rather focus in on custom installations and competent salesmen. Their restructuring plan includes shutting the doors of 49 stores, two regional locations and exiting certain regions of the country. The company is closing all the stores in California, Tennessee, Alabama, New York, and most of Georgia within two to three months. While we don't understand how some of those states are not preforming for Tweeter, they know their company a whole lot better than we do. The rest of the plan includes retooling other stores into their Digital Playground layout and "significant reinvestment in its people." Hopefully Tweeter can survive these low price/low revenue days cause as nice as it is to get a low price, it's almost as nice as shopping in a professional, knowledgeable atmosphere.

[via CE Pro]