Homegrown sports retail chain Sportslink has gone into liquidation after facing some financial woes.
This news came as quite a shock, since the store recently announced its reopening in a Facebook post on June 22 following the shift to Phase 2 of circuit breaker on June 19.
According to its liquidator, Sportslink owes a number of creditors as well as a month’s salary to employees. In total, its debts amounted to at least S$3.4 million.
One of its creditors was Adidas Singapore, which was its supplier.
A month ago on June 9, Adidas Singapore had filed an application to the High Court for the winding up of Sportslink. The latter had owed Adidas Singapore S$1.3 million in overdue trade payables since April 2018.
According to an affidavit by an Adidas Singapore director, Sportslink has partially repaid the debt and previously agreed to a repayment plan, but did not follow through with it.
By November last year, Sportslink owed Adidas about S$991,000.
The biggest creditor however, is a Malaysian sports vendor for Brooks products, who is owed S$1.2 million.
Sportslink: The ‘OG’ Sports Store
Sportslink first started out as Sports Interlink as a single store in Queensway Shopping Centre.
It was founded in 1983 by the late Lim Kau Tee, and was only registered as Sportslink four years later. Sports Link Pte Ltd (SLH) was later registered in 1994.
It started extending its reach to suburban malls in 1995 and rapidly grew in Singapore. At its peak in 2015, it had 35 outlets islandwide.
However, its Facebook post on January 22 only listed nine outlets, including a factory outlet.
Two brands under SLH — basketball specialty store Hoops Factory and Intersports — have also shut both their stores at Queensway Shopping Centre.
Featured Image Credit: Nestia