43-store card and gift store chain Swoozie's closing down

Swoozie's employees hoped they wouldn't have to send invitations for a liquidation sale.

But that's the way it's headed as the card and gift chain is closing all of its 43 stores, including four in the Chicago area market.

Stores, known for presents, paper, printing and personalization, at the Arboretum of South Barrington and the Oak Brook Promenade on Butterfield Road are slated to close as well as locations in Burr Ridge and Orland Park. The store closings effects about 50 employees in the Chicago market, the company said.

Ginny Lynn, who works at the South Barrington store, said she found out Monday about the fate of the company.

"It's heart breaking. It's really, really hard," Lynn said.

The store closings are a result of the bankruptcy case filed earlier this month. The Atlanta-based company sought protection from creditors, blaming the economic downturn as well as 13 poorly performing stores it acquired in the Northeast.

Last week, Northbrook-based Hilco purchased the company's retail and other assets in a bankruptcy court-approved auction for $7.4 million.

Michael Keefe serves as president and CEO of Hilco Merchant Resources, a company that provides a wide range of analytical, advisory, operational, asset monetization and capital investment services to help retailers define and execute strategic initiatives.

He said the stores will hold liquidation sales on everything in the stores.

At this point, merchandise is marked 10 to 30 percent off, Lynn said. She expects the stores to be open for about two months.

Swoozie's co-founder Kelly Plank Dworkin wrote a letter to customers on the company Web site.

She founded the business nine years ago with her husband David Dworkin, who died three years ago, she wrote in her letter.

She wrote that she has kept a positive outlook through the bankruptcy process, but is now at a crossroads.

"I am now facing the somber reality that Swoozie's is swiftly approaching a path to complete liquidation barring some unforeseen miracle," she wrote in the letter.