Dec. 27—The Spokane Valley-based online retailer, Kaspien Holdings Inc., recently announced that it will close operations within months.

The company, founded as Etailz in 2008, reached the $1 billion milestone in sales during the boom of the pandemic in 2021, according to a previous report by The Spokesman-Review.

Etailz was founded by Sarah and Josh Neblett and Spokane angel investor Tom Simpson. The company was rebranded as Kaspien Holdings Inc. in 2020 by its current CEO, Brock Kowalchuk.

Simpson declined comment when reached on Wednesday.

Kowalchuk previously served as chief financial officer and took over the company as CEO in March 2022.

The company's previous CEO, Kunal Chopra, took the helm in September 2019 before departing in 2022.

At the time Chopra arrived, the firm was operating at a loss.

But just a year later, Kaspien recorded a 20% improvement in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization, according to a previous story.

Under Chopra's reign, the company's stock surged at the beginning of 2021, reaching a peak of $46 per share, according to Geek Wire.

But Wednesday, Kaspien stock ended trading with a 27% loss and was trading at $0.02 per share.

In a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the company officials said that they will pull its common stock from financial markets on or around Jan. 8.

In a post to LinkedIn, Chopra shared his thoughts about the shuttering of his previous company.

"Companies that do not innovate are bound to fail. In a fast paced, competitive world, getting outcompeted is just a matter of time," he said. "No disrespect to CFOs, but they don't make the best CEOs. You can't only view companies from the lens of an excel sheet. The excel sheet is a great co-pilot to your business strategy, but not the front runner."

Save for a few "core group of employees," the company plans to lay off all of its workers. According to LinkedIn, fewer than 100 people currently are employed by Kaspien.

The firm reported $26.4 million of revenue in the third quarter of this year, down 9.3% year-over-year, with a net loss of $1.8 million, according to the filing.

Kaspien reported a net loss of $5.1 million for the first three quarters of this year.

It previously reported negative cash flows from operations in fiscal year 2022 and 2021.

Company officials expect to completely close the company by May 1, according to the filling.