Meatheads Everywhere Lament: Vitamin World Going Bankrupt

We admit it. There were a few folks on the team who used to do the whole vitamin thing. We were pumping iron, man-scaping, and trying everything and anything to "get shredded" like Brad Pitt in Fight Club. Now we just drink Soylent and Juicero.

No, we're not serious. About the Soylent part. And, CLEARLY, the Juicero part.

Anywho, the vitamin/nutrition space has gotten hammered and...hold on to your butts...another retailer is filing for bankruptcy. Enter Vitamin World which, per this Reuters report, may file bankruptcy as soon as this month to effectuate the closure of some of its 345 stores. Apparently, they've spent the better part of the last several months trying to negotiate themselves out of some onerous leases (query: who is their real estate advisor? Update: RCS Real Estate Advisors) and haven't been successful enough to thwart a bankruptcy filing. What's interesting about this is that Portrait Innovations filed for chapter 11 earlier this week for the same reason. Apparently landlords are convinced they can get better rent elsewhere. Maybe they think Square ($S) will be opening up more brick-and-mortar. But we digress.

Look, "the Amazon effect" is real and Vitamin World probably won't be the last vitamin/nutrition business to wear the dreaded Scarlet BK. Seriously, look at these 1-year charts: blood red everywhere...

This won't be the last distressed situation you hear about in the vitamin space.

Correction: it was brought to our attention that the original piece gave the impression that all the stores are closing. We have edited the above to indicate that the plan is to effectuate some closures.