 In April 1999, Gordon Brothers Group announced it had won a bid to liquidate merchandise at 664 Edison Brothers locations, including 295 J. Riggings stores, 234 JW/Jeans West stores and 135 Wild Pair stores.The remainder of the company was sold or liquidated.In a 2009 memoir, Sneider blamed the company's woes on an abrupt shift in the market away from the company's small stores and private-label goods to heavily promoted brand names, too little advertising, too many promotional sales, and a paternalistic company culture that emphasized promoting from within and eschewed consultants and market research.