CPI Corp. abruptly shuts down U.S. operations

CPI Corp. abruptly shuts down U.S. operations

St. Louis-based CPI Corp., the operator of those studios, had abruptly pulled the plug on its U.S. operations the night before.
Word of the studios’ demise began to spread to thousands of employees late Wednesday through phone calls — and sometimes text messages — in which they were told not to report to work the next morning.
CPI, which had about 2,700 portrait studios inside of Sears, Walmart and Babies R Us, had been struggling to stay afloat in recent months after defaulting with its lenders.