Bankrupt once again | Coco Village sold to Ontario-based Mastermind Toys

A year after its first bankruptcy, the Coco Village company filed for bankruptcy again. This time, however, the founders lost control of the company, specializing in the online sale of children’s furniture and toys. It ended up in the hands of an Ontario chain of toy stores, Mastermind Toys, for an undisclosed amount.

The company plans to hire “the majority” of the remaining 18 employees, according to documents filed in Superior Court. Its plan also provides for compliance with Coco Village’s contracts with customers, “including gift cards issued and in circulation”.

In an email to The Press, Mastermind CEO Kartik Rathod has not specified whether he plans to open stores in Quebec, where the company is currently absent. “Our focus at the moment is on integrating the business and fulfilling orders,” he says.

Mastermind has 48 stores in English Canada.

Insolvent again

The Ontario company came forward as part of a search for potential buyers for the assets of Coco Village, which was looking for a buyer with the help of receiver André Gabbay.

The company’s founders, Dominik Larose and Yoann Desrosiers, precipitated its fall by demanding the repayment of a debt of more than $1 million from Coco Village to another of their companies in March.

This is the second time that this scenario has come true, since in April 2023, the company had already gone bankrupt for the first time, after the filing of an appeal against it by the same company from Larose and Desrosiers.

The partners then set up a new company to buy the assets of the children’s goods distributor under the same name, with the help of a group of external investors.

In June, Coco Village started again on new bases. But according to court documents, the following month she found herself in default of making her payments to her creditors… including the company of Larose and Desrosiers.

In March, Coco Village bosses repeated the 2023 scenario, demanding repayment of the company’s $1 million debt owed to their own company.

The company and its receiver studied 14 offers, choosing that of Mastermind.

The receiver’s plans, approved in Superior Court on April 9, provide for the repayment of a group of creditors who allowed Coco Village to resume operations last year.

Serial bankruptcies

In August 2023, The Press had explained how the company’s financial problems were causing long delays in receiving merchandise that customers had ordered¹.

Our investigation also revealed how the two owners already had several bankruptcies under their belt.

Today is the fourth time that Yoann Desrosiers has led a company into bankruptcy. In 2018, the TBOS Group, a production company that he chaired, caused its creditors to lose nearly 3 million, including theaters and many members of the Union of Artists (UDA).

Desrosiers and Dominik Larose, partners and spouses, have also both experienced personal bankruptcy in the past. They did not respond to the email from The Press.

1. Read “Businesses in difficulty, parents discouraged”