Kim Van Howe swears she's never looked better than in the glamour shots she had taken at Sears.
It was late summer, she was 27, tanned, blond and wearing a velvet peach halter, she recalled wistfully while shopping Tuesday at the Sears on State Street. "It's my favorite one. I even had the photo key chains made" with the image, she said.
Now 51, Van Howe, who still has her photo taken on key birthdays, will have to find another spot to capture her important milestone photos.
CPI Corp., the St. Louis-based company that took family and individual portraits at retailers such as Sears, Wal-Mart and Toys R Us, closed all of its more than 2,000 outlets Thursday with little warning.
The company shuttered locations in the U.S. and laid off about 4,300 employees as a result, according to a regulatory filing submitted Monday. None of its Canadian operations will be closed.
A brief statement posted on its website reads that CPI is "sad to announce that all of our U.S. portrait studios are now closed." The company said it is attempting to fulfill as many customer orders as possible and directs customers to contact the customer service department at their local stores.
With the popularity of digital photography cutting into its sales, CPI revealed last month in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing it had until last Saturday to repay its lenders and meet its loan obligations. CPI said in mid-March that it owed $98.5 million, including unpaid principal of $76.1 million.
Last week, the company's Canadian unit, CPI Canadian Images, purchased certain assets of the struggling company's Canadian business for about $1.6 million.
Sears Holdings Corp. said Tuesday in an emailed statement to the Tribune that it was "working with CPI to help ensure that it fulfills its outstanding orders and provides ordered pictures to our Members and customers. We regret any inconvenience this has caused." Wal-Mart said less than 20 percent of its stores were affected.
CPI operated and managed Sears Portrait Studios as a licensed business in all but three of Sears' 788 full-line stores, including 26 in the Chicago area.
As for working with another photo studio operator in the future, Sears is exploring its options but for now the portrait studios are closed, the company said.
