When Collectors Art of Dundee, Ill., decided to go out of business after 25 years, Buxbaum Group found itself facing a big job: Converting 37,000 paintings into cash for the company’s unsecured creditors.

“This was a very challenging assignment,” notes Stevan Buxbaum, executive vice president of Buxbaum Group. “We had to turn three warehouses into stores and bring customers into non-retail locations. Despite those obstacles, to date, the sale has been very successful.”

Collectors Art sells hand-painted works depicting a wide variety of scenes, from abstracts to seascapes, at pre-liquidation prices ranging from $19 to $2,000. The firm sold its works and frames primarily through special sales conducted at hotels throughout the country. “It used to be a very good business, but in the last couple of years it really dropped off because of the increased costs of media, hotel venues and transportation,” explains Buxbaum.

Eventually, the company decided to liquidate its assets under an Assignment for the Benefit of Creditors. That’s when Buxbaum Group got the call to sell the approximately $5.5 million in inventory.

The liquidation events are being held in warehouses that Collectors Art leases in Dundee, Ill. (near Chicago), San Diego, and Bensalem, Pa. (near Philadelphia). “We’ve had excellent sales with good margins, and have maintained 25%-off prices for a number of weeks into the sale,” Buxbaum reports.

Shoppers hunting for bargains at G-O-B sale held in one of Collectors Art’s three warehouses.

Buxbaum says he hopes to wind up the sale by July 31 or sooner. “We could be going that long,” he noted. “We’re still selling profitably, and as long as that happens we can keep going, although we have more inventory than we can retail. At some point, we will have to go bulk with it. But as long as we are returning money every week, that’s positive.”