A shoe retailer in Industry, Calif., has called it quits.
Amiga Shoes Factory Inc. at 17766 Rowland St. in the Rowland Heights neighborhood filed a Chapter 7 liquidation petition in a California bankruptcy court in Los Angeles on Wednesday.
Not much is known about Amiga Shoes, although a MapQuest listing that was based on a now-defunct company website said Amiga offered a wide range of children’s footwear for infants, kids and teens. The listing said the collection had included flats, school shoes, dress footwear, sandals and boots.
The petition listed one unsecured creditor, a service center connected to a small business administration loan in the amount of $150,000. The petition, which listed Woon Hung Leung as the owner, indicates that the SBA loan was its only debt. Total assets were $8,635, comprised of $7,438 in a checking account and $1,197 in a savings account. The debtor owes its legal counsel $4,500 for the bankruptcy oversight, and said that after any administrative expenses are paid, there won’t be anything left over for its unsecured creditor. The petition also said the company didn’t own any real estate nor did it have any lease interests. It wasn’t immediately clear when the business shut down, but at the time of the Chapter 7 filing, Amiga Shoes also said it no longer had any inventory in its possession.
There wasn’t much detail about the business in the filing. But it did state that the business had gross revenue before deductions and exclusions of $1.4 million for the year ended Feb. 29, 2024. For the year ended Feb. 28, 2025, gross revenue was listed at $454,781. And for the five months from March 1, 2025 to the July 23, 2025 Chapter 7 filing date, the petition said the operation generated zero revenue.
Amiga is not the only shoe operation that has seen financial distress. In March, sneaker reseller Soleply filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy court protection. The company said high-interest, short-term debt to fund store expansions had resulted in a cycle of inventory shortages and cash flow instability. And overseas, Swedish footwear brand Eytys that’s known for its chunky shoes filed for bankruptcy at the start of 2025 in a Stockholm District Court.
There’s concern across retail and apparel that U.S. President Donald Trump’s global reciprocal tariffs will add new pressures to the sector, particularly for retailers and brands that sell primarily to lower-income consumers.
The U.S. operation of tween accessories chain Claire’s, which also sells socks and slippers, is said to be under financial distress from a high debt load and added costs from higher tariffs. The business relies heavily on a supply chain based in China. Word surfaced earlier this month that one option is for the business to be sold via a bankruptcy process. The retailer previously exited bankruptcy in 2018, a process that allowed it to shed $1.9 billion in debt.
Creditsafe’s head of brand and company spokesperson Ragini Bhalla said the company faces “fierce competition from ultra-low cost online retailers like Shein and Temu.” She also said the retailer’s payment history shows clear signs of cash-flow strain, noting that Claire’s growing late payments are getting worse. Bhalla said the percentage of outstanding bills up to 30 days past due has “increased significantly” from 9.5 percent in August 2024 to 12.7 percent in September 2024 and then more than doubling to 26.4 percent in October 2024. By May and June of this year, upwards of 50 percent to 67 percent of its outstanding bills were already in the 1-30 days past due category, she said.
And it isn’t just the low end that’s facing pressures. Handmade boot specialist Freebird earlier this year shuttered 14 store locations. The Colorado-based firm, whose boots are priced between $200 and $400 a pair, is looking for a buyer and could close more stores. Freebird is not in bankruptcy proceedings, but it has been operating under a court-appointed receiver since May following a lawsuit by KeyBank after it failed to repay a $15.4 million debt obligation. The company reportedly owes $6 million in unpaid invoices to a Mexican boot manufacturer that supplied 85 percent of its inventory, a company that has since shut-down operations.
In addition, department store retailer Kohl’s shut 27 retail doors earlier this year. The downsizing will leave fewer shoe shopping options for consumers in the areas where the stores have closed. Those doors are primarily located in California, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Texas, and in other states.