with a rospatiale . this article needs to be updated . please update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information . april 2016 aeropostale inc. type public traded as otc pink aropq industry retail founded 1973 fiscal 1987 headquarters new york city new york u.s. number of locations 860 1 area served united states canada online only chile greece mexico oman colombia dominican republic puerto rico peru saudi arabia singapore philippines united arab emirates turkey ireland panama india key people thomas p. johnson ceo karin hirtler garvey cob products apparel & accessories revenue us 1.838 billion fy 2014 1 operating income us 213.138 million fy 2014 1 net income us 206.458 million fy 2014 1 total assets us 512.189 million fy 2014 1 total equity us 93.552 million fy 2014 1 number of employees 21 007 january 31 2015 1 website www.aeropostale.com a ropostale store in vaughan mills vaughan ontario . a ropostale store in promenade thornhill ontario . a ropostale inc. occasionally known as a ro is an american shopping mall based specialty retailer of casual apparel and accessories principally targeting ages 14 to 17 year old men and women through its a ropostale stores although adults 18 and up wear the clothing as well and 4 to 12 year old children through its p.s. from a ropostale stores . 2 a ropostale maintains control over its proprietary brands by designing sourcing marketing and selling all of its own merchandise . the company operates 773 a ropostale stores in the u.s. spanning all 50 states and puerto rico and about 61 stores in canada . p.s. from a ropostale operates 26 stores in 12 u.s. states . 1 a ropostale s licensees operate 239 a ropostale and p.s. from a ropostale locations in the middle east asia europe and latin america . the first a ropostale store was opened in 1987 by macy s in the westside pavilion mall in los angeles ca . the company has grown from 119 stores in 1999 to the current 860 . 1 after thirteen consecutive quarters of losses a ropostale filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy on may 4 2016 with assets of 354 million . 3 the company will close 113 of its 739 u.s. stores and all 41 in addition to 20 already closed prior to the filing in canada the majority of which were unprofitable and responsible for the company s losses . 4 5 usa today made a list of all of the us stores closing as part of its bankruptcy . 6 contents 1 subsidiaries 2 competition 3 promotions 4 awards and honors 5 legal issues 6 nyse delisting 7 bankruptcy preparation 8 see also 9 references 10 external links subsidiaries edit to leverage the strength of the a ropostale teen brand the company has expanded its namesake chain to a new chain called p.s. from a ropostale geared at children . p.s. from a ropostale began in 2009 and originally only offered apparel at value prices to the 7 12 age market . 7 in winter of 2011 p.s. added apparel for three four five and six year olds to their collections being introduced with the holiday clothings . beginning in november 2013 the bethany mota collection was added to a ropostale stores featuring clothing and accessories designed by american video blogger bethany mota . also beginning in the fall of 2013 the live love dream collection lld was added to a ropostale stores . live love dream features lounge and activewear geared to girls . the company also offered a secondary brand called jimmy z that focused on surf and skater clothing . the 14 stores were branded as more upscale with higher price points than its parent chain . the company closed all jimmy z in fiscal 2009 . 8 9 in october 2014 the company launched their latest collection united xxvi which features clothing with an edgier look . the company works with video bloggers nash grier hayes grier and cameron dallas to create these looks based on the type of clothing the boys enjoy . a ropostale has currently following brands for girls bethany mota free state hobie invite only junie & jade live love dream lorimer map to mars the bikini lab tokyo darling united xxvi and for boys brooklyn calling free state united xxvi competition edit a ropostale mainly competes with other outfitters abercrombie & fitch and its subsidiary retailer hollister co. and american eagle outfitters as well as a few smaller brands . a ropostale s younger brand p.s. from a ropostale competes with brands such as a & f s younger subsidiary abercrombie kids and american eagle s 77kids . promotions edit in 2007 the company began doing promotions with successful figures to increase brand awareness . the first promotion was selling the fall out boy album infinity on high with a store exclusive t shirt . other offers include a free beach towel with every 50 purchase and a free christmas bear with a purchase of over 100 each promotion in its respective season . these christmas bears are also donated by a ropostale stores to local charities in their respective communities . in 2008 a ropostale along with not for profit youth organization do something launched teens for jeans a campaign to raise awareness of teen homelessness . stores would collect lightly used jeans and donate them to local charities . in return donators received a 20 % 2008 or 25 % 2009 discount on a new pair of a ropostale jeans . in 2008 the campaign raised over 125 000 pairs of jeans . in their fifth year they collected over a million pairs in 2012 . in 2008 and 2009 a ropostale donated 10 000 pairs of new jeans to the campaign . 10 11 in 2010 after the aftermath of the earthquake in haiti for every pair of jeans that was donated by customers a ropostale sent a brand new pair to haiti . in 2015 the company teamed up with british pop band the vamps to promote awareness . the school with the most jeans collected received a private concert from the band . there were over 82 000 participants and the company raised 722 072 pairs of jeans in total . also they promoted the show greek season 1 dvd with a free t shirt with a 50 purchase . in the same year a ropostale organized real teen contest to discover new talent among teenagers . the top 8 winners of the contest received 5 000 personal college scholarship . 12 in april 2011 a ropostale partnered with black eyed peas to sell exclusive t shirts and cds . 13 proceeds from these items benefit the peapod foundation a charity which helps children worldwide through music . additionally a ropostale has pledged 100 000 to the organization . a ropostale not only helps out their customers they also help their employees through a program called aero cares . aero cares is another not for profit organization and is funded voluntarily by the a ropostale employees . the purpose of the organization is to help any employee during times of extreme financial hardship or need resulting from personal tragedy . awards and honors edit the company was named by fortune magazine as one of the top 100 companies to work for in 2013 . 14 legal issues edit in march 2007 a ropostale was accused of infringing a patent owned by card activation technologies inc. in a lawsuit filed in the northern district of illinois . 15 anyhow in a separate lawsuit on the same patent card activation received a ruling on claim construction which it interpreted as extremely favorable to its interpretation of the patent and its pursuit of infringers of the patent . 16 in june 2007 a ropostale was accused of infringing a patent owned by picture patents llc in a lawsuit filed in the southern district of new york . 17 in july 2009 a ropostale was accused of infringing a patent owned by furnace brook llc in a lawsuit filed in the northern district of illinois . 18 executive vice president and chief merchandising officer christopher finazzo was terminated in november 2006 after an investigation by the board of directors revealed that he had concealed and failed to disclose personal and business interests with south bay apparel a major vendor . the sec issued an investigation on the finazzo matter in january 2008 . a criminal indictment was unsealed and announced june 11 2010 in u.s. court in brooklyn ny charging finazzo and doug dey the owner of south bay with wire and mail fraud conspiracy . 19 20 finazzo was convicted on 16 counts including 14 counts of mail fraud and one each for wire fraud and conspiracy on april 25 2013 . 21 nyse delisting edit on 22 april 2016 the stock was delisted from the new york stock exchange and began trading under the symbol arop as an over the counter stock starting on april 22 2016 . in 17 march aeropostale announced its looking for strategic alternative either to sell it off or restructure . bankruptcy preparation edit as of may 2 2016 the company was preparing for a bankruptcy filing with more than 100 of its 800 stores to be closed . 22 on may 4 2016 the company filed chapter 11 bankruptcy . as part of the reorganization the company will close 113 u.s. stores and all 41 canadian stores . 23 in august 2016 mall operators general growth properties and simon property group along with authentic brands group hilco merchant resources and gordon brothers retail partners put in a bid for all of aeropostale s assets consisting of at least 229 stores . 24 the bid in total is 243 million . the joint venture will seek to assume all liabilities as well . 24 the bid will help the reits save their existing leases with the company . general growth properties and simon property group have a total of 234 leases with aeropostale . as of the date of bankruptcy filing aeropostale had a total of 739 stores in operation in the united states and puerto rico and further 41 stores in canada . the company had 25 p.s. from aeropostale stores in 12 states . 24 see also edit abercrombie & fitch american eagle outfitters forever 21 references edit a b c d e f g h i a ropostale form 10 k annual report filing date mar 30 2015 . sec.gov . retrieved september 26 2015 . a ropostale form 10 q quarterly report filing date dec 3 2012 . secdatabase.com . retrieved december 30 2012 . aeropostale inc. chapter 11 petition pdf . pacermonitor . pacermonitor . retrieved 9 may 2016 . mclean rob may 4 2016 . teen retailer aeropostale has filed for bankruptcy . cnnmoney . retrieved may 4 2016 . goenka himanshu may 4 2016 . a ropostale arop files for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection . international business times . retrieved may 4 2016 . bomey nathan may 4 2016 . will your aeropostale close here s the list . usa today . retrieved may 4 2016 . a ropostale form 8 k current report filing date mar 13 2009 . secdatabase.com . retrieved december 30 2012 . a ropostale form 8 k current report filing date mar 10 2005 . secdatabase.com . retrieved december 30 2012 . a ropostale form 10 k annual report filing date mar 29 2010 . secdatabase.com . retrieved december 30 2012 . aeropostale partners with do hi something to launch teens for jeans press release . a ropostale . january 16 2008 . archived from the original on january 13 2010 . retrieved march 11 2009 . over 200 000 teens expected to donate jeans for homeless teens press release . a ropostale . january 26 2009 . archived from the original on january