Even great ideas come to an end sometimes, and the bankruptcy filing of The Limited store chain demonstrates that it can happen to anyone. The chain, which focused on professional attire aimed at women in the workplace, was founded more than 50 years ago right here in Ohio. However, the business model was built around the shopping mall experience, which has been in significant decline for well over a decade.
The Limited has suspended its customer service phone lines, and has begun layoffs at its corporate center in New Albany. Along with filing for bankruptcy sometime around Dec. 20, the company has set Jan. 7 as its final day of operation for stores all across the country.
A business, even one based on a well-conceived idea, can be just as susceptible to falling into bankruptcy as a private individual. If you have come to a place where your well-laid plans have fallen apart and you are looking at a financial impasse, it may be time to consider a bankruptcy.
Bankruptcy often carries social stigma, but this is truly unnecessary. Like the Limited, that offered a great product and have been the victim of changing views on how and where to shop for clothes, you may have simply put all your chips on a great idea that did not play out in the long run.
The true gift of a bankruptcy not what it takes from you or even the debt that it alleviates, but rather the fresh start that it offers. Regardless of the choices or circumstances that lead you to a bankruptcy, you deserve a fresh start just as much as anyone else, and the sooner you begin the process, the sooner you can get to rebuilding your life and charting a new course to peace and prosperity.