Naiise founder confirms company’s liquidation

Troubled home-grown retailer Naiise has gone into liquidation, after closing its last store last weekend following years of late payments to its vendors. The company’s founder, Dennis Tay, will also be filing for personal bankruptcy. In a Facebook post on Thursday, Mr. Tay said he had “exhausted (his) savings and borrowed heavily from banks” to keep the business afloat and repay Naiise’s vendors.

He also signed personal guarantees for the loans, “because as long as Naiise was still a going concern, there was a chance that Naiise would be able to repay, however slowly”.

“Unfortunately, I am now out of time and options,” Mr. Tay wrote, adding that it has been “an extremely difficult two years” and that the last few weeks were “the darkest of his life”.

Last Sunday, Naiise closed its Jewel Changi Airport store – its last and largest in Singapore, amid an ongoing struggle to pay its vendors.

It owes vendors sums ranging from hundreds of dollars to five-digit figures for selling their stocks on a consignment basis and has reportedly defaulted on payments since as early as 2016.

Naiise was also fined S$8,000 last year for late payments of CPF contributions for employees. Currently, it has been charged with another offence under the Central Provident Fund Act, with the case slated for hearing next week.

Mr. Tay, who started Naiise in 2013, wrote in his Facebook post: “As a business owner, the blame for Naiise’s demise is mine alone.

“I’m sorry to the employees I let go. They helped build Naiise and I consider many of them friends. To those who are owed money, I am sorry I failed you all, and for all the inconvenience and distress this has caused. Apologies also to our marketplace sellers for shuttering operations so abruptly.”