Tweeter Opco, LLC formerly Tweeter Etc. and Tweeter Home Entertainment, was a specialty consumer electronics retailer providing mid and high end electronic equipment, including flat panel TV

Flat panel display

Flat panel displays encompass a growing number of electronic visual display technologies. They are far lighter and thinner than traditional television sets and video displays that use cathode ray tubes , and are usually less than thick...

s, plasma TVs, car radio

Car radio

Car radio may refer to:*a radio in a car. See car audio and in car entertainment*"Car Radio", a song by Spoon from their 1998 album A Series of Sneaks...

s, home theater systems, GPSs and more. It also focused much of its business on custom installation of electronics for homes and automobiles.

The company had more than 100 stores in 18 U.S. states, mostly along the east coast, but also including Illinois

Illinois

Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...

, Texas

Texas

Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

, and Arizona

Arizona

Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...

, operating under the names Tweeter

Tweeter

A tweeter is a loudspeaker designed to produce high audio frequencies, typically from around 2,000 Hz to 20,000 Hz . Some tweeters can manage response up to 65 kHz...

, HiFi Buys, Showcase Home Entertainment and Sound Advice.

The company was founded by Sandy Bloomberg who opened the first store in the Boston

Boston

Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...

 area in 1972, and the company quickly expanded throughout New England

New England

New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...

.

Tweeter continued expanding largely through acquisitions, the first of these being Bryn Mawr Stereo in 1996. It then added Chicago-based United Audio Center and Douglas TV stores in 2000 and Florida-based Sound Advice in 2001. These acquisitions gave Tweeter an instant presence in the Southeast and Midwest during a booming housing market.

In March 2007, Tweeter announced the closing of 49 stores and the layoffs of 650 employees, and shuttered all of its stores in California and most of its stores in the Southeast. In June 2007 Tweeter Home Entertainment filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy

Bankruptcy

Bankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....

 protection and its assets were purchased by Schultze Asset Management at auction on July 13, 2007, after a failed reorganization plan. Schultze reformed the company as Tweeter Opco LLC.

After an attempt to revive the company, Tweeter Opco filed for Chapter 11 on November 5, 2008. Prior to filing the company had started going out of business

Business failure

Business failure refers to a company ceasing operations following its inability to make a profit or to bring in enough revenue to cover its expenses...

 sales in anticipation of the holiday season. However, a dispute among creditors regarding operating cash to continue the sales forced the closure of all stores on December 3, 2008, the firing of all 600 employees and the company filed a conversion of its Chapter 11 reorganization to a to Chapter 7

Chapter 7, Title 11, United States Code

Chapter 7 of the Title 11 of the United States Code governs the process of liquidation under the bankruptcy laws of the United States...

liquidation. Customers reported paid goods and deposits were part of frozen assets which eventually forced them to file as creditors in the liquidation.