Several Dutch shoe retailers have filed for bankruptcy in the last few months, as reported in Shoe Intelligence, blaming competition and the economy. This time it's the turn of a major sporting goods retailer, Telstar Sports & Fashion, which operates several megastores in the country. According to Sport Partner, one of the reasons for its bankruptcy proceedings was the opening of many stores in the past few years, not always in good locations. Monique Koopman, a former commercial director of Perry Sport, has closed four stores and implemented several cost-saving measures since she was hired to run the chain last September, but this has been insufficient to cope with the debt burden and to offset losses that have been accumulating since 2011. Telstar's owners have refused to inject more money into the business, but sales increased by 8 percent in the first half of this year in a market that grew only by one percent, and the company has presented a financial recovery plan for the next three years. New investors have shown interest in Telstar, provided it eliminates a good portion of its debt through the present bankruptcy proceedings.

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