Shinders closes remaining stores
(AP) - The 91-year-old Shinders newsstand chain has closed its last eight stores.
Shinders has been slowly closing stores over the past several months and on Monday informed its remaining employees that it could no longer afford to pay them.
The stores were known equally for their selections of baseball cards, comic books and obscure magazines.
Company owner Robert Weisberg was arrested last year after police found drugs, needles and a .40-caliber rifle in his van. The 45-year-old lawyer failed to show for at least two court appearances in the past several months.
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His attorney, Joseph Friedberg, said the criminal case is continuing and Weisberg's next court appearance is scheduled for Aug. 27.
"You can't find Outlaw Biker at Target or Borders."
Casey Carver, who worked for more than two years at the company, wasn't too surprised after getting the news on Monday.
"The writing's been on the wall for a while now," he said at the Maplewood location.
The company operated stores in Minneapolis, Roseville, Maplewood, Inver Grove Heights, Burnsville, Blaine, Minnetonka and Maple Grove.
Shinders was founded by five brothers in 1916 shortly after they immigrated from Russia. Weisberg took control of the chain in 2003. He is a distant relative of the Shinder family.
Joel Shinder, a former owner who grew the company from one store to 13 when he was in charge from 1976 to 2003, said he felt "horrible" upon learning the news.
"If you would have asked me three months ago, I would have thought there was a possibility that it could turn around," he said.
Some customers were already mourning the loss of the Hennepin Ave. location, which was a local landmark.
Doug Spong, managing partner of Minneapolis public-relations firm Carmichael Lynch Spong, said he couldn't count the number of times sent a staffer across the street to Shinders for a copy of an article about one of his clients in some obscure publication like Outlaw Biker or Hamptons Cottages and Gardens.
"You can't find Outlaw Biker at Target or Borders," said Spong, whose firm was across the street from Shinders until Carmichael Lynch moved last year.
(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
