Kaspien Holdings Inc., a Spokane Valley-based ecommerce company that grew rapidly after its simple beginnings at a Spokane startup event in the late 2000s, is winding down operations and expects to close permanently on May 1, 2024, according to a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filing. 

The company states in the SEC filing that the plan involves a "reduction in force of substantially all of the company's employees." A core group of employees will be retained to ensure an orderly wind down, according to the filing. 

Kaspien CEO Brock Kowalchuk and board member Tom Simpson decline to comment at this time. 

It's unclear how many people have lost their jobs and how many people will be retained during the transition. The company reported employing 288 people in 2018, but that figure had declined to 134 in late 2021, when the company ranked fourth among medium-sized employers and 31st overall on the Journal's Best Places To Work INW list. 

In the most recent SEC filing, Kaspien reported that its decision to wind down operations followed an assessment of its "current cash and liquidity position and near-term debt maturities." The company plans to wind down its operations in what it describes as an orderly fashion without the need for a bankruptcy filing. 

The company expects to incur a total of $3.6 million in wind-down costs, including a retention bonus and severance agreement with Kowalchuk, through which he receives $150,000 and remains CEO until May 1. Kaspien Chief Financial Officer Edwin Sapienza is due to receive $140,000 to stay on through the transition under a similar agreement. 

The company disclosed in a Dec. 18 release that it voluntarily will delist its stock from the over-the-counter exchange on which it's been trading since being delisted earlier this year from the Nasdaq exchange, where it traded under the KSPN symbol. 

Simpson co-founded Kaspien as Green Cupboards in 2008 with Josh Neblett and Sarah Wollnick, when the couple were students at Gonzaga University and pitched the idea of an online retail company specializing in ecofriendly household goods at a Hogan Entrepreneurship Business Plan Competition. The company's genesis often has been recounted through the years as an example of success in the Inland Northwest's entrepreneurial ecosystem, as it grew and expanded into a multimillion-dollar retail and technology company. 

The company's name was changed to etailz Inc. in 2013, and in 2016, it was acquired by New York-based TransWorld Entertainment Corp. for $75 million. It became the lone subsidiary of the public traded company, and its corporate headquarters were based in a 40,000-square-foot space in the old Itron Inc. headquarters building, at 2818 N. Sullivan Road, in Spokane Valley. 

Neblett stepped down as the company's CEO in 2019 and was replaced by Kunal Chopra. A former Amazon.com Inc. and Microsoft Corp. employee, Chopra led the ecommerce company until stepping down in 2022, when Kowalchuk was promoted to the top post from his previous position as chief financial officer.