g gift certificates in an effort to protect shops stationed within the trendy, top-tier department store. Yet consumers can still use their old gift certificates, the department store said early yesterday, after meeting with representatives from Idee-stationed businesses all Saturday night.
And that was what shoppers did yesterday when they visited Idee's various branches, saying they wanted to spend all their coupons. Whether the gift certificates were worth NT$300 or NT$30,000, customers tried to get rid as much of them as possible, fearing they may one day become useless.
"I took my family to lunch today, just trying to use up all my coupons," said one customer. "I don't want to wake up one day and find my coupons are worth less than wallpaper, just like Rebar stock."
Idee's parent corporation, China Rebar, filed insolvency protection Jan. 4, along with another company under the Rebar Group, Chia Hsin Food and Synthetic Fiber Corp. Their declaration of insolvency has triggered the biggest financial crisis in Taiwan in recent years.
Already Chinese Bank, another Rebar Group company, saw panicky customers withdrawing their money over last week. The group's founder, Wang You-tseng, has fled to mainland China, leaving his sons and daughters in Taiwan to pick up the mess.
The no-new-voucher agreement was reached between Idee and a self-help group made up of representatives of Idee-stationed stores late Saturday night. Old gift certificates may still be used, and Idee has promised to exchange them for cash for shops stationed in the department store.
Negotiations between Idee and the group have been taking place ever since China Rebar's financial trouble erupted, an event that prompted some 1,000 Idee businesses to threaten to withdraw from the department store entirely.
Some shopowners said they still haven't got their payment from Idee since October last year, when Rebar's financial trouble had become more severe.
Today is a critical day as Idee is supposed to pay stores the money it owed to them, as Idee's bank accounts will be unfrozen by order of the Ministry of Economic Affairs.
"If Idee checks still bounce, we can't support Idee's continued operations," one Idee shop said.
