Another Cotton Ginny Update

Yesterday I had the opportunity to talk to a Cotton Ginny district manager in the Toronto area. I didn’t ask too much about the company dynamics because I knew she couldn’t tell me and chances are she wouldn’t know. My main concern was for those of you who still have gift certificates but no place to use them because of closures and/or travel limitations. Unfortunately her main suggestion was to find the location nearest you. When I countered more than once that it was not an option for many people she said that she would check further up the chain and get back to me in a few days. It was the end of the business day when I talked to her so I have not heard back but will keep you updated. ball of cotton

Another complaint I’ve also heard is that there is no contact information on the official Cotton Ginny website other than individual stores who ultimately know nothing or are unhelpful (through no fault of their own). I was able to find out that Cotton Ginny is actually owned by Eco-Ganic and on their website there is contact information for both the Eco-Ganic and Cotton Ginny divisions. You may want to try that mode of contact.

As a final resort you may consider looking into filing a complaint with the Canadian Better Business Bureau (BBB). They recommend you contact the company first but Cotton Ginny has not made that easy for previous customers. The BBB time-line for handling complaints is about 30 days which is promising and they will not turn you away if you have not contacted the company first. There is an online step by step form to fill.

That is all I have for the moment. I will let you know if I hear anything else and definitely let me know of any news you learn in the comments.

***Update*** Cotton Ginny is no longer online nor does it have walk-in stores. Read comments below for further insight.

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Topic Links
* Visit Eco-Ganic for contact information (update: site has disappeared)
* Visit the Canadian Better Business Bureau

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Comments

  1. Cotton ginny is going bankrupt!!! they have already closed many of there stores and are doing so as we speak!!

  2. I think it’s probably safe to say they have already gone bankrupt. There’s a couple discussions going on here but thanks for posting.

  3. cotton ginny……i was a manager for a short period of time, and then i showed up to work one day to see a termination of lease notice. other stores had closed just days before, and i was told by our people at head office that my store was not closing. they lied. i phoned rio can and they told me that cotton ginny doesn’t pay their rent and they knew that their stores at rio can locations and the owners of specific malls like the pickering town center were giving them the boot.

    now i am in a fight to get money that’s owed to me. people like us really need the money that we worked for. i have two kids and to suddenly not have income, and to assume that money owed to me was coming was just a dream.

    these people stuck with cotton ginny through the bankruptcy times and were rewarded with head office positions. now they have contributed to it just the same. i kept telling them that the image they were portraying to the customer was just terrible, but they didn’t care, and said that the customer would always return.

    don’t shop there, they don’t care about you, their employees or proper business standards.

  4. Thanks for the update Cadi. That is so horrific. I hope you find a new and better job soon.

  5. Cotton Ginny used to be a good company to work for, i worked there 5 years. But over time as resession worsened, all retail became a big struggle. Customer’s didn’t want to buy full price anymore, and the company was striving to go Organic, to have stronger made and good quality clothes. If customers wouldn’t be such cheap asses they wouldn’t have gone out of business. I was manager the last 2 years, but had worked in a total of 3 locations, and the week before Christmas i was driving to work, and had a call from my HO informing me what i was going into work to. We had 24 hours to have the store moved out, i stayed and helped pack up the store, thought might as well get paid every bit possible. Thank god for EI, i am enjoying a break from working. But i was insulted that they have no respect for the workers, very inconsiderate. They are bank rupt yet again, but if someone is to buy them AGAIN i would suggest changing their name. Cotton Ginny has poor reputation and thousands of unhappy, angry customers. Ones who have hundreds of dollars on Gift cards and exchanges or returns but are sh$t out of luck!

    cheers

  6. Ashley says:

    cadi i was also the manager at the cotton ginny when they called me to tell me my store was closeing i had a day to tell my girls they dont have a job but then also needed them to help me pack up the store witch i dident have a box to put anything in i had less then a day to have the whole store packed up and shiped with 3 girls to do it so we did it i worked my ass off to get it done got my last pay and roe with my vacation pay and severance pay amount on my roe but no cheque for the amount i emailed and called and emailed and called got a few answers from my emails that it was comeing it would be sent to me just give them time my store closed Jan 18th 2011 it is now May 9th 2011 still no money i went to the labour board they called cotton ginny no returned phone call so there was nothing they could do for me so now i am in contact with a lady with the WEPP she is doing everything for me. I find it so sick how they treated us its unreal i gave the company everything did every thing they asked of me and we get treated like this if i knew it was this way i would of just walked out after the phone call telling me i was out of a job at least i know im not the only one fighting this. let me know if everything works out for you.

  7. Ashley….that is horrible. They asked us to come packthe store as well. So we showed up to collect our cheques and let them dothe rest. I also went to the labor board. All numbers are disconnected now…however I do have all of their personal numbers. Ilaryia called me after I told them that not only am I going through the labor board but also filing complaints in their names personally with the BBB. They beg me not to. But I have already. Not sure if you had a contract or not, but I did. That has helped things. I am also filing on behalf of all my staff who all got stiffed on vacation and severance. When I asked for it the issued a new roe. They think they are above the law and bankruptcy fixes everything. It does not and I’ll make sure I fight them until we all get our money

  8. Cadi… yes i also got a new roe with out the amounts on it but it was already to late employment insurance took the money off me because it sais it was payed out so i am now short money sucks that they do this to people who kept there stores going. im going to get my money from the wage earner protection program just like we had to do the last time in oct 2009 i am not stopping until i get my money its not fair that i got it taken off my employment insurance i told them but nothing they can do because it sais it on my first ROE. so i hope something comes soon it was tuff enuff telling my girls they were out of a job then telling them they were not getting there money so keep me posted and i will keep you posted on any more info i get from the wage earner protection program. I also feel bad for all the loyal customers who still have gift cards and no where to spend them.

  9. Miranda says:

    I was a Cotton Ginny employee until our store closed at the end of April. My last paycheck bounced and I highly doubt I wil recieve my final pay, now I cannot get into contact with anyone from the company. I know there are other employees fighting for what they are entitled to and was jut wondering if anyone had any advice on how to go about dealing with this terrible company.

  10. My store closed December 20th, i guess i am lucky it did at the time it did………i received my last pay, vacation and severance all in one big check and the roe. But everything else from finding out to packing the store up is all the same experience i had. Iilaria even tried to get me to continue working, part time, at the other location in the city………i said no of course after what we all went through. And then a month later that other location was shut down! I would have been asked twice to pack it all up. Only reason i would is to get every bit of hours possible on my last check. But sounds like it doesn’t matter now…….WEPP is in charge and CG is gone byebye.

    Good luck to all you girls!! Give yourself some time to clear your heads and find a good company to work for or go back to school! :)

  11. I used to work for Cotton Ginny also. The top guy went by the name of Tony Chahine. But apparently that was not his real name. His real name is Antonine Badr. He has run many businesses that have gone bust, Battery Plus, Saan Stores, Cotton Ginny (3 times). This way he does not have to pay employees and suppliers. I was told he lives in a $5m house on the lakeside.

  12. ohhhhh really thats good info to know i worked for cotton ginny got closed out in jan still havent got my money but know that they are gone bankrupt AGAIN i will be getting my money from wepp so hahaha to him and the people who used all of us cotton ginny employees

  13. So I just found out today that Cotton Ginny is closed. The closest store to me is 2 hours away, so I went to use my gift card that I got in March, but the doors were closed. By the sound of the previous comments I will be out the money of my gift card??

  14. Sorry to hear that Nicole. Yes, the impression I get is there is no way to recoup the cost of the gift card.

    Thanks for posting the update,
    Moe
    Five Favorite Things Blogger

  15. Hi Everyone!
    I worked for Cotton Ginny for the last 7 years (right up until April 2011) and I had the best working experience ever! I have learnt a lot about the organic/sustainabilty movement, worked with great people and do not regret my years of service for one moment!! I am truly sad to see CG go! And I know there are many people who feel the same way I do!!!!

  16. Man this really sucks!!

    I have also been a loyal customer for years and was worried when the stores started to disappear in Victoria. We had several stores to choose from and now….NONE! There had been one lone store for a while, but now that too is gone. I feel for anyone who has gift cards etc, as I am sure they had to know when they were selling them, that their days were numbered.
    It is a sad day for Canadian companies and for anyone who gave their business to Cotton Ginny. It seems that when this other company, ECO-GANIC inc.came into the picture, it changed a lot of the products and slowly the Cotton Ginny that we loved was gone.

    Sad and mad in Victoria,
    Hazel.

  17. I worked at CG for 3 years in Ottawa, and went through two bankruptcies, and closed 2 stores in that time. While the company was indeed poorly managed, I just want to get a few things strait. The people who worked in the stores – the managers, the associates – we didn’t know anything – we were told nothing. The first store I closed was due to lease expiration (the mall refused to renew our lease because of CG’s reputation, not that I blame them in the least) and we got about 2 weeks – we were promised by Head Office a new location within the month, and in the meantime we transferred to a different location. Well, we didn’t get that new store. Surprise, surprise.
    I worked at the other store for 8 months – we had little to no contact with HO, other stores, or our District Manager. We were totally on our own. When we found out the company was going bankrupt, they gave us a date to have everything packed up by, and told us to ship everything to HO. That was it. Nothing else. The girls I worked with – including my store manager who had been with the company for 21 YEARS! – we all had to fight for months to get the money they owed us. It was a horrible experience going through the bankruptcy, but I can honestly say that the people I worked with at CG were among the best people I’ve ever met.
    With the economic hard times we’re all going through, it wasn’t a surprise that CG went, but it honestly wasn’t entirely HO’s fault. No one wanted to buy anything at full price, they didn’t want to try anything new, and quite frankly, some of the rudest people I have ever met were customers of CG. Not of all of them were horrible – not at all! – but there were a lot of bitter people who shopped at CG, and they made life very difficult for the people who worked in the stores. It wasn’t fair, we didn’t control what was happening to the company, but we were still constantly harassed. I had to have security escort one woman out of the mall because I felt my safety was in danger. I was only 17, working there part-time to save up tuition money. It was almost a relief to close the doors, if only to not have to deal with the constant belligerence. I’m not blaming the companies problems on the customers, and I’m not saying that every one of my customers were horrible – I’m just merely stating some of the experiences I had working there.
    The company destroyed itself, pissed off a lot of customers who no longer wanted to shop there, causing HO to make even more drastic decisions, which pissed even more people off, and created this viscous cycle.
    CG I’m sure will be missed by many, but frankly, I’m glad I don’t work there anymore. It has been 7 months since the store I transferred to closed, and I can honestly say the only aspects of the job I miss are the people I worked with in my store. We still get together once a month for dinner to catch up :) And yes, we bash CG as much as the pissed off customers. They had a lot of great people working for them, and didn’t treat them with any respect, courtesy, or common decency.

  18. Thank you for sharing your experience Casey.
    Moe
    Five Favorite Things Blogger

  19. Hi There!
    I am with Lisa and Casey on this one. I had a gret working experience with Cotton Ginny. I had an amazing group of employees , made some good friends and had a DM that fought tooth and nail for her stores. It was a pretty shitty day walking in to see the other managers in the mall reading the lease termination notice in my store window that morning. But the next day we went in, got personal effects, packed up the store and moved on. We had no problem with our final pay, though our ROE were a little slow getting to us. Yes, we had some really great customers, and some really bitter, pessimistic assholes too. All of us were either found new jobs quickly or went back to school. I love the clothes and the direction the company was going with the organic and sustainable fibres. Our problem was the lack of support from head office, including no information regarding store closures etc. I really felt bad for our DM, she was stuck in the middle; listening to us bitch and moan but getting nothing further up the line. If someone does buy the company, please for the love of god change the name!!

  20. Just came across this CG update, and i wanted to add in my experience with Cotton Ginny. I had worked for them at the Plus location in Sherway Gardens as a part timer, then moved to the Cloverdale mall location as a full time, then assistant manager. I transfered from there to head office to inventory control, then finally doing 2 years with the payroll department. (1994-2002).
    I had a pretty positive experience, and learned alot about customer service, and how customers loved to take advantage of the return policy. The real awful customers knew who to call at head office to get their way when managers refused to give in, thus making the store staff seem stupid, and worthless, and get yelled at from the DM.
    At the head office level things were sometimes worse. I left in 2002 due to a maternity leave. There were 5 of us off at the time they filed for bankruptcy the first time. We were sent a letter in the mail on Feb. 2002 and told not to return. I had worked for them for 9 years. Because they filed for bankruptcy they were excluded from paying us our full severence. We were allotted 13 cents per $ owed. And this took almost a year to get.
    They had to pay their suppliers first, then their overdue rent, then their CEO and top people. If there was anything left it came to the employees, thus the measly 13 cents. Can’t inagine how they managed to regroup and do it all over again.

  21. The comments made by Jill is the reason for CG’s demise. The Chahine/ Badr guy, and who knows if either of those are his REAL name. Stay away

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