Rainbo closed

rachelplotkin · November 10, 2014, 09:53:45 PM

Per their Facebook page:

Rainbo regrets to inform all of our valuable customers that we have closed our doors. We greatly appreciate all of the support you have given us over the years. We hope to open again soon under new ownership. In the meantime, if you have any questions on products you have purchased or other services from Rainbo, please contact us at customersupport@rainbosports.com and we will get back to you as soon as possible.

A big loss to the skating community

Here's hoping they can regroup and reopen in the near future.

AgnesNitt · November 10, 2014, 09:56:47 PM

Their website is still up.

Clarice · November 10, 2014, 10:06:29 PM

They're also posting dates/times on Facebook so that people who have items on consignment can come in and pick them up. I hope they can reopen, too. I've always gone to them for fittings and sharpenings. I haven't figured out yet what I'm going to do in the meantime.

saje · November 10, 2014, 10:35:10 PM

Sad. I ordered a pair of skates from them in May and had all sorts of problems getting them in a timely fashion (they were supposed to be completed by June - didn't get them until August). The girl at the store told me that they had a whole batch of skates that were late because Rainbo hadn't made payments to Jackson. Perhaps there was some kind of financial trouble...?

littlerain · November 11, 2014, 11:40:28 PM

I went there last Thursday and they were randomly closed. Another woman was there and pretty frustrated about skates she had been looking to pick up. I wonder what happened!

littlerain · November 11, 2014, 11:43:08 PM

I wonder if they'll have any close out sales?!!

Clarice · November 12, 2014, 08:28:07 AM

They are not keeping regular business hours. They are posting on their Facebook page when they will be open for folks to pick up consignments. This affects both the Glenview and Milwaukee stores. I don't know about close out sales, but when I was last there they had hardly anything in the shop.

AgnesNitt · November 12, 2014, 07:56:43 PM

Quote from: Clarice on November 12, 2014, 08:28:07 AM
I don't know about close out sales, but when I was last there they had hardly anything in the shop.

That's always a sign of long term money problems. It's usually an indication that a business hasn't paid bills in a while so suppliers will no longer provide stock on credit.

nicklaszlo · November 12, 2014, 08:22:12 PM

Rainbo has never had much stock in the storefront, except things like soakers which are not much of an investment. Usually they would fetch things out of the warehouse area. I think the main business was special orders and used boots, though.

A Rainbo employee told me the business was owned by an investment group. I always assumed that explained why they didn't seem to care much about making money.

icedancer · November 12, 2014, 08:37:15 PM

It's too bad they closed - when I have spoken to their reps at Nationals and other venues they really do seem to know what they were talking about and I always meant to ask them lots and lots of questions about blades and their opinions about certain blades, etc., knowing that their "blade guys" really knew their stuff. Now I wonder where those "blade guys" will be going...

Clarice · November 12, 2014, 11:34:04 PM

Quote from: nicklaszlo on November 12, 2014, 08:22:12 PM
Rainbo has never had much stock in the storefront, except things like soakers which are not much of an investment. Usually they would fetch things out of the warehouse area. I think the main business was special orders and used boots, though.

You're right about them getting stuff out of the warehouse, but when I was there I couldn't even buy a set of gel sleeves. That's never happened before. And I've followed Rainbo through 4 different locations over they years - they used to have a quite a bit of stock in the store in the old days. I remember when they used to carry stuff for roller skates, too.

I also wonder where the long-time employess will be going...

JSM · November 13, 2014, 01:25:39 PM

It's sad! I got a lot of my skating stuff at Rainbo throughout the years. Going used to be an event - the place was huge! I could spend hours just looking around. So much came from Rainbo - a few pairs of boots, several sets of blades, attire, my scribe, even a clock!

I've heard that they've been in debt for quite some time, unfortunately. I'm sorry to say that it's not surprising, though I hope they can figure things out and reopen again in the future.

littlerain · November 13, 2014, 07:50:52 PM

I went there today and they didn't have much left. And only a handful of things at sale prices.

Now my question is, where do you guys plan to go now for skates, sharpening, etc?!

davincisop · November 14, 2014, 09:36:58 AM

This makes me sad.

I visited the Glenview location last year when I was up visiting my grandma with my parents. I convinced my parents to let me pop in and see if John could look at my blade (I was pronating and he saw and fixed it to perfection). Mom came with me, and we all got talking and found out that John and my dad had a TON in common, mainly fishing. So when dad picked us up, mom told him and dad went in to go meet him. Came back to the car about 10 minutes later and said "he's a really great guy".

Years ago when I first started skating and grandma found out, she went to Rainbo and bought me a bunch of different colored boot covers and warm gloves. I used the gloves until our baby golden managed to get a hold of them...

skategeek · March 14, 2015, 12:27:33 PM

Some potentially good news about Rainbo:

https://www.facebook.com/ShopRainbo/photos/a.77745787861.80438.45796702861/10152810670177862/?type=1&fref=nf

icedancer · March 14, 2015, 01:34:02 PM

Well, that is good news!!

karne · March 15, 2015, 06:53:18 AM

This is great news! Even with the nosedive of the dollar it's probably still cheaper for me to order things from Rainbo than buy them here.

Now, if only they brought back their house range of tights! Those were AMAZING!

davincisop · March 15, 2015, 10:33:19 AM

This makes me so happy!

I was up in that area a few weeks back with dad to visit grandma and he asked if I wanted to "stop by that skating store we went to last time". It was sad to tell him it was closed.

Scamper · May 12, 2015, 01:20:21 PM

Rainbo has reopened here is their new contact information:

Rainbo Sports & Skating, LLC
2665 Shermer Road
Northbrook, IL 60062
224-235-4764

No website yet I hear it is coming soon

Query · May 12, 2015, 03:53:56 PM

Some info is at their facebook page

https://www.facebook.com/ShopRainbo

But the website they give there,

http://shoprainbo.com/

Doesn't work yet.

I wonder why they closed down the website for so long. I would have thought their brand name was worth a lot of money to a potential new manager.

nitasports · May 14, 2015, 09:55:13 PM

For all those who bought Rainbo tights, Nita Sports designed, developed and manufactured all of Rainbow tights. Unfortunately it was short lived as they ran into business issues. Nita Sports offers a range of tights and socks from kids to adults figure skaters. :WS:Gracie Gold, Polina Edmunds, Amber Glenn[/color] and other elite skaters are our loyal customers. Made in USA, 90 Denier, with color to match fair to light skin tones. Product can be reviewed at http://www.nitasports.com

davincisop · May 15, 2015, 09:59:59 AM

There is a chance I'm going to be in Northbrook very soon. My grandma took a turn for the worst (she's been going downhill a while, we saw her in February and dad asked if I wanted to go to "that skating store" while we were in town, but it was still closed). If the weekend allows for it when it does eventually happen, I may try to get over to see the new shop.

davincisop · May 26, 2015, 12:17:08 AM

This weekend I was up in northbrook for my grandmas funeral. Sunday was our free family day before we headed back today and the initial plan was to check out Rainbo until I checked times and saw it is closed on Sunday's.

So no go for me.

karne · May 28, 2015, 06:37:33 AM

Quote from: nitasports on May 14, 2015, 09:55:13 PM
For all those who bought Rainbo tights, Nita Sports designed, developed and manufactured all of Rainbow tights. Unfortunately it was short lived as they ran into business issues. Nita Sports offers a range of tights and socks from kids to adults figure skaters. :WS:Gracie Gold, Polina Edmunds, Amber Glenn[/color] and other elite skaters are our loyal customers. Made in USA, 90 Denier, with color to match fair to light skin tones. Product can be reviewed at http://www.nitasports.com

Given how much I loved the Rainbo tights, which were my favourites ever, I was very interested in the Nita ones.

Sadly, they only ship to FOUR countries.

littlerain · June 02, 2015, 03:44:33 AM

Quote from: davincisop on May 26, 2015, 12:17:08 AM
This weekend I was up in northbrook for my grandmas funeral. Sunday was our free family day before we headed back today and the initial plan was to check out Rainbo until I checked times and saw it is closed on Sunday's.

So no go for me.

I'm so sorry to hear about your grandma

hope you'll be able to make it to rainbo some other time!

News:

Rainbo closed