Steve and Barry’s has filed for bankruptcy protection and it’s expected they’ll announce this week they’re going out of business. Much of the corporate staff was laid off Monday, and the stores that weren’t closed a few months ago will be closed now, including the location at the Millcreek Mall. If you wanted one more pair of Starbury kicks, we’d suggest getting there as soon as possible.

Reuters reports:

Bay Harbour Management LC, a private equity firm based in New York that acquired 175 of the company’s stores, has hired a liquidation firm to handle the chain’s going-out-of-business sale, the paper said, adding that around 5,000 employees will be let go.

Do you think that Erie will be more or less affected by the current economic conditions? We’ve already had layoffs in the last few months by Hamot, Velocity Network, and Erie Plastics, which announced they had been sold in bankruptcy and 200 jobs will be lost. This is a gigantic disaster for the Corry area.

Dale Hannah blogs:

With all the job losses in Erie County, officials should have been standing on their heads shaking out every last coin in their collective pocket to prevent the loss of 200+ more jobs.