Cutie Pie Baby Inc. Head Buys Rights to Rugged Bear

New England children’s chain Rugged Bear may relaunch in 2012, after the brand’s logo, trademarks and website were purchased for $138,000 in bankruptcy court by Diana Lannon, a former children’s apparel buyer at BJ’s Wholesale Club, and Eli Yedid of New York-based Cutie Pie Baby Inc. Rugged Bear shuttered its 29 locations earlier this year after declaring bankruptcy. Lannon said she plans to bring back the Rugged Bear brand by selling Rugged Bear merchandise into department stores and other clothing outlets rather than the current Rugged Bear locations. “Our goal is to take this regional brand and make it national,” she told The Patriot Ledger in Quincy, MA. “We knew the brand was valuable. For more than 30 years, customers were very loyal to the brand.” She doesn’t expect to relaunch the brand until Fall 2012.