Treasure Island Foods stores closed Wednesday afternoon, officially ending a 55-year run in Chicago.
The Gold Coast store on Elm Street was the last of the six remaining stores to close, a store employee said. High Ridge Partners, the liquidation firm managing the company’s assets, confirmed that all of the stores were closed.
Treasure Island delivered the news of its imminent closing to its employees on Sept. 28 and 29, saying all stores would close by Oct. 12. Many of the chain’s employees say they weren’t given enough notice under state and federal law and are still owed pay and benefits.
Last week, Treasure Island filed notice with the state that it was laying off 486 workers. The document filed with the state didn’t specify why the company failed to give the workers 60 days’ notice, as is typically required for mass layoffs by state and federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification acts.
A spokesman for the Illinois Department of Labor said Tuesday that the agency was not investigating the lack of 60-day notice because no formal complaints had been filed with the state.
Attorneys for Treasure Island wouldn’t answer questions on the matter Tuesday after a court hearing.
Two lawsuits are pending. Longtime produce wholesaler Anthony Marano Co. sued Treasure Island last week over more than $450,000 in allegedly unpaid produce. Recent court filings indicate Treasure Island owes $900,000 in total to its produce vendors. The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, which represents 28 employees, also filed a lawsuit against Treasure Island last week, for allegedly violating a federal law that governs layoff notices.
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