Wilsons: Trying to stop the bleeding

For years, the more than century-old Wilsons has tried to pull itself out of decline. Some notable recent events:

2002: Wilsons closes 135 travel outlets after the stores lose $26.4 million in the post-9/11 economic slump.

2004: Wilsons shuts 111 underperforming stores and cuts 950 jobs. In April, Peninsula Investment Partners of Charlottesville, Va., and two affiliates of Quaker Capital Management of Pittsburgh invest $35 million for 17.9 million shares of stock.

2007: Wilsons gets another infusion from private equity investors. This time, it's for a total of $45 million.

Feb. 15, 2008: Wilsons shutters 160 of its mall stores and announces it will turn the remaining 100 stores into handbag and accessories boutiques called Studio.

July 8: G-III acquires the Wilsons name, website and 116 outlet stores for $22.3 million. Wilson's changes its name to PreVu Inc., including some of its retail stores.

Aug. 4: PreVu Inc. is delisted from trading with Nasdaq.

Aug. 14: PreVu announces it's closing the remaining stores and going out of business.

Sources: Star Tribune archives, Lyle Berman, SEC filings, referenceforbusiness.com