Major U.S. importer Pacific Rim will be sold

Pacific Rim Import of Seattle, considered one of the nation's largest suppliers in the home décor and accessory business, will be sold to settle its debts within the next couple of weeks.

The company operated 15 showrooms across the country and at one time had employed about 200 people in its Seattle office, according to one business directory.

But it was put into receivership last month after Bank of America sued in King County Superior Court to collect $5.8 million in debt. The lawsuit also names Intercon Sales, the selling arm of Pacific Rim Import.

Among Pacific Rim Import's offerings were Christmas decorations and garden accessories.

The privately held company, in business for more than 40 years, already has closed its showroom in Seattle and is laying off some employees, said John Davidson, managing partner of Inverness Group, the receiver appointed by the court to manage the sale of the company's assets.

Pacific Rim Import did not return calls for comment.

It's unclear whether the company's other showrooms are still open, and Davidson declined to say. Pacific Rim Import still operates Fidalgo's Home Flair, a 12,000-square-foot retail shop with an adjacent 18,000 square feet of warehouse space in Seattle.

The company has a total of 500,000 square feet of warehouse space at five sites in Seattle. Its annual sales were put at about $74 million by research company Hoover's.

Pacific Rim's financial troubles and the closure of its Seattle showroom sent ripples of surprise through an industry that is otherwise faring well, said Matthew Kalash, managing editor of New York-based Gifts & Decorative Accessories, an industry trade publication with a monthly circulation of about 25,000.

Pacific Rim Import was regarded as one of the biggest players in the industry and a leader in many of its sales categories, Kalash said.

The gift- and home-accessory industry encompasses companies that sell anything from furnishings to collectibles. Home Depot last year estimated the market for home décor in the U.S. at about $18 billion.

The company's financial woes could be a result of rapid growth, Kalash said. It's a common occurrence in that industry for companies to bite off more than they can chew, restructure somehow and then emerge as a slimmer operation.

"I think they expanded into too many categories," said Kalash about Pacific Rim. "They start out as these mom-and-pop manufacturers and they get a taste of success and then they get too big. We've seen this before in the industry."

Inverness finished collecting bids this week for the company's assets. It received about 40 bids from across the country, including several local ones, Davidson said. Companies are bidding on everything from supplies to trademark rights.

The company could remain open under new ownership or it might fold, depending on the asset sale. Inverness hopes to make an announcement about Pacific Rim's future within the next couple of weeks, Davidson said.

Kirsten Orsini-Meinhard: 206-464-2391 or kmeinhard@seattletimes.com

David Turim contributed research to this report.