Marcal declaring Chapter 11 was no surprise to people in the business, it was just a matter of when...
Marcal's market share in the New York has been declining steadily in the past 10 years. New York Market is their bread and butter.
The paper category (paper towels, toilet paper) used to be a major category for the Supermarket class of trade in this region.
Ever since the club stores (Costco, BJ's, Sam's) have come into fruition, the paper category has been declining in Supermarkets......The Walmart's and Target's of the world have only accelerated the decline, so who gets hurt by all this???...the local guy, Marcal
As more and more people buy this category at non traditional outlets, they are not purchasing Marcal, because all of these other retailers carry only a few or no Marcal items.
Also with various price increases that have occurred (paper, transportation), other major manufacturer's have been able to absorb.
P&G makes their paper in Mehoopany PA, much lower cost of living
Kimberly Clark restructured their supply chain...
Georgia Pacific combined and closed production facilities, and opened new ones in very low cost of living areas in the SOutheast
Marcal's cost of doing business is fixed, only one plant, in one of the nation's most expensive areas to do business in....
They may survive this bout with Chapter 11, but the end is near unfortunately