If you're a fan of Pyrex and Snapware's stuff, and intended to pick up more, now would be the time to do it. This week their parent company, Instant Brands, has filed for bankruptcy. While the company remained profitable through the pandemic, they cite current "macro-challenges beyond our control that have impacted our business" rendering their current debt levels "unsustainable."
The bankruptcy earlier this year of Bed Bath & Beyond, which carried Instant Brands' products, likely played a role. Tupperware, which had not filed for bankruptcy at press time but looked to be headed in that direction, is ailing as well; who knew food storage objects were such a volatile category?
It would be a shame to see a venerated brand like Pyrex, which was first introduced in 1915, bite the dust. I find their glass measuring cups ergonomically superior to the junk they sell at the big boxes.
Somehow I doubt that whatever brand steps up to fill the void will be both affordable and high-quality; these days manufacturers seem obsessed with producing either "luxury" goods or race-to-the-bottom junk at the lowest possible price.
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Interesting clarifications:
Chapter 11, so not going out of business, but the reorganized company is likely to make a crappier product. This is what private equity gets you — the value is extracted from a business by saddling it with debt, and if it can’t keep up with payments, bankruptcy.
Investors buy established brands minus any debt that is written off during bankruptcy. This will be the case here I’m sure.
I'm pretty sure lower-case "pyrex" is the lower quality glass and uppercase PYREX is the good stuff. Also, I believe Corning owns PYREX, not Insta Brands....
It seems like Corning sold or licenses the Pyrex brand - just the cooking line, not the lab line - to Insta Brands, formerly Corelle ... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corelle_Brands
Isn't the lower case pyrex not the original version? A quick Google search shows that the upper-case version PYREX uses the better quality glass and the lower case (as shown above) uses lower quality. Are we sure PYREX is going out of business, or is the cheap knock-offs that are fading away?