BizBrief: Last days of S&K

Men's suit and tuxedo buyers may have less than a month left to take advantage of the half-off savings caused by the bankruptcy and closure of Virginia-based S&K Menswear, also known as S&K Famous Brands. Five months ago, the company filed a voluntary Chapter 11 with a plan to raise over $5 million by selling off and then leasing back buildings including its Glen Allen headquarters. The sale materialized, but a concurrent plan to lure a "stalking horse" buyer–- as the company termed it in its February 9 filing in the Eastern District Bankruptcy Court– ran into February sales figures which showed a million-dollar operating loss on just $4 million in sales among about 100 remaining stores (down from 160 a year ago), and no buyer emerged. The bankruptcy is the second to create a vacancy at Albemarle Square shopping center in recent months, as publicly held electronics behemoth Circuit City closed in December.