The Centre for Research on Globalization (Canada) has some very un-pretty numbers. I’ll be watching for another announcement from the President that we’d all better go shopping. But where, Mr. President?
Ann Taylor closing 117 stores nationwide.
Lane Bryant, Fashion Bug, Catherines closing 150 stores nationwide
Talbots will close all 78 of its kids and men’s stores plus another 22 underperforming stores.
Gap Inc. closing 85 stores
Foot Locker to close 140 stores
Wickes Furniture is going out of business and closing all of its stores. The 37-year-old retailer that targets middle-income customers, filed for bankruptcy protection last month.
Levitz - the furniture retailer, announced it was going out of business and closing all 76 of its stores in December. The retailer dates back to 1910.
Home Depot store closings 15 of them amid a slumping US economy and housing market. The move will affect 1,300 employees. It is the first time the world’s largest home improvement store chain has ever closed a flagship store.
Movie Gallery – video rental company plans to close 400 of 3,500 Movie Gallery and Hollywood Video stores in addition to the 520 locations the video rental chain closed last fall as part of bankruptcy.
Sprint Nextel - 125 retail locations to close with 4,000 employees following 5,000 layoffs last year.
Wilsons the Leather Experts – closing 158 stores
Bombay Company: to close all 384 U.S.-based Bombay Company stores.
KB Toys closing 356 stores around the United States as part of its bankruptcy reorganization.
CompUSA (CLOSED).
No Trackbacks To “So Much for Our Retail-Based Economy…“
I hope the people who own these companies are Republicans. Too bad the common folk are the ones who suffer most.
“No one could have predicted” that when the middle class don’t have high enough wages or good paying jobs or homes to live in — the middle class doesn’t buy goods and services like furniture and clothing or rent movies.
But no worries, Exxon made $11 billion last year.
I would say that the Movie Gallery/Hollywood Video closings have more to do with changes in the market place rather than the overall decline in the economy.
I sell toys to the national chains and it’s worse than you think. By far the worst in 25 years.
Damn Democrats strike again!
I really hate how they have messed up Bush’s great economy.
Also, Steak and Ale and Bennigan’s are out of business
The Bennigan’s and Steak and Ale restaurant chains, owned by Metromedia Restaurant Group, closed 292 locations and sought permission to liquidate under bankruptcy court protection.
The closely held chains listed assets totaling as much as $778.9 million and debt of as much as $324.2 million in 38 Chapter 7 petitions filed by affiliates today in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Sherman, Texas.
I’m almost expecting BushCo. to try to blame it on Bin Laden…. wherever he is.
Seriously, if people vote for McBush we’re only going to see more of this.
Wake up, people.
Yes, but how about the stores that AREN’T closing. You guys can be so negative sometimes!
republicanSScareme @ 1:
I’m sure they’re not going to the poorhouse… just their employees. I’m mean, it’s not like Republicans attack the middle, and lower income folks.
I mean…. it couldn’t be deliberate… could it?
Exxon made record profits this year! Halliburton made off like a bandit! Their not thieves! There’s just good ‘Murkins!
Yes… I’m being sarcastic.
I thought business was the only entity whose interests these sleazebags were serving.
I guess a receding tide sinks all boats. Thank you RePuke slime & Demo collaborators. Nancy, Steny & Harry et al.
There is also the 600 Starbucks closing, the struggling airline industry, the car industry, the newspaper companies, etc, etc…
While some are haggling about whether this is a recession, I ‘m wondering if we’re in a DEPRESSION.
Ah bless capitalism starts eating itself ……….. thankfully, lies bought on credit to undercut and manipulate markets coming back to haunt ……. curious parallel, CIA and military fuck over the middle east for the US’s interests ……. and you get 9/11 …….. you attempt to buy the world by forcing consumer crap every where and they do it on credit and outsource/give away your own manufacturing base (while not keeping up with ANY manufacturing nation on earth) ………. and your economy implodes.
Took a little longer that I’d thought to be honest.
About time.
republicanSScareme @ 1:
People who OWN the stuff won’t suffer. People they owe stuff to, they suffer. Employees get fucked.
Here’s more
Eddie Bauer to close more stores after closing 27 in the 1st Quarter
Cache closing 20 to 23 this year
Zales, Piercing Pagoda 82 gone on July 31, 23 more to follow
Macy’s 9 closed
Pacific Sunwear 153 demo stores closing
Pep Boys auto parts closing 33
Ethan Allen closing 12
Dillard’s 6 stores
Linens and Things 120 underperforming stores in its chain of 589 locations as it filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in May
Disney Stores 98 closing
Pier I 79 closed in 2007, closing 25 more, selling corporate headquaters
Friedman’s Jewelers 473 stores, bankruptcy
Dell 140 stores
84 Lumber 12 stores
Sharper Image 90 stores, bankruptcy
Rite Aid 28 stores
Saks Fifth Ave. 1 store
Sofa Express 44 stores
Kirklands Home 30 stores
Big Dollar 10 stores
Sigrid Olsen 54 stores
Jasmine Sola 23 closing
Lillian Vernon Catalog Bankruptcy
Store closings are simply psychological states of mind- like suicide.
YES FRIENDS…. finally you understand…. from the beginning….
THIS IS CLASS WARFARE…. vote for any wealth leveling issue you ever see
…….the wealthy will respect you more if you fight for their $$$$$$$
john THE BUSH REPUBLICAN mccain….. JUST THE ISSUES PLEASE
But hey, there will always be Wal-Marts.
Jay Severin Has A Small Pen1s @ 8:
Yeah, and how about all those innocent Iraqis that haven’t been killed. Their children are going to freshly painted schools protected by God’s angels, Blackwater Contractors who will teach them about Jesus and the lethal effectiveness of an M-4. All you libs want to do is whine.
-Phil G. Texas
That’s the boosh legacy in action. He is going to leave a big mark in the history books afterall. Too bad it’s a skid mark.
And McCain will continue the road to an American third world.
LibertyLover @ 2:
Don’t you mean last fiscal “quarter”??
You missed Starbucks (closing 631 stores), Bennigan’s (closed), Steak and Ale (closed).
Boscav - filed for bankruptcy today.
Linen n Things - filed for bankruptcy will close if don’t find a buyer.
And a couple more I can not remember off the top of my head. At an airport getting ready to board. Maybe someone else can come up with the ones I forgot. GOING TO THE OLYMPICS!!!!!!! Take care.
And Elitist McLame is wearing $520 dollar loafers while Rome burns, what a guy!
More mental delusions.
It’s all Obama’s fault.
Alan (bitter in Michigan)Hussein Cameron @ 17:
I dunno. If Home Depots are closing then big boxes obviously aren’t immune.
gg @ 22:
Ironically, from Italy!
CompUSA is not closed. It was bought out by TigerDirect and still operates a number of CompUSA retail stores plus the CompUSA website.
Sharper Image
and that other store like Sharper Image (massage chairs, novety stuff etc) are closed.
25 Lyon Says: Alan (bitter in Michigan)Hussein Cameron @ 17:
But hey, there will always be Wal-Marts.
I dunno. If Home Depots are closing then big boxes obviously aren’t immune.
____________________________________________________________________
What about coffins?
I’m sure undertakers are making a killing.
I bet gun sales are up.
ConcernedCanuck @ 20:
Yep. I did. Thanks for the correction.
BennyP @ 30:
Will be after the election, especially if McGrampa wins.
ysbaddaden @ 29:
Don’t be surprised if Walmart goes into the coffin market. After all, they support the NeoCons, and therefor support mass murder. All those bodies have to go in something.
It just makes fiscal sense.
these store closings and the housing foreclosures
and banks tanking all over America are really
what will be called the
BUSH LEGACY = DESTROY AMERICA
LibertyLover @ 31:
Scary isn’t it? Ludicrous profits while the middle class get bled dry….oh ya, oil futures are $130/barrel, but hey, right now we are paying $50/barrel…shhhhh…don’t tell anyone or let the media slip that into their nightly reports.
Years ago, in the twilight of the VHS days, I worked for Movie Gallery in NC. It’s an atrociously run company that has no business having survived this long. I was stunned at the absolute contempt for their customers. When they got into a pissing match with New Line Home Entertainment over bulk pricing and began only ordering one copy of New Line new releases per store, customers started sending in those little Customer Satisfaction cards (We Care! Tell us how we’re doing!) saying “Um, I wanted to rent (insert New Line title), why is there only one copy?! I’m going a half-mile down to Blockbuster from now on!” As you can imagine, this happened a lot. A couple of weeks later word came through from the Dothan, AL headquarters: do not hand out Customer Satisfaction cards to anyone, for any reason. If this horrible economy wipes that company out then it cannot be said to have been a total wash.
Prattvictory @ 18:
Now you’re learning how to fly with those who are blessed by God to be Republicans!
Notice there are no Wall-Mart or Target Stores on that list.
They need them to sell all of the Chinese Crap.
But we aren’t paying attention. It’s because we are not drilling off shore. Go on home Repub Congress and tell your folks why they should vote for you.
You will know it’s really ON when the grocery stores start closing.
Where are YOU going to get your food?
Sorry, not going to miss a one of them, none on the original list nor on QG’s #14. They have gone out of business themselves. I don’t go to WalMart either, I shop for value, defined later.
Stores close all the time good economy or not. Granted some closure may have bee accelerated by a poor economy. Poor service, merchandise I not needed or liked (Wickes/Levitz built absolute crap and at high prices!), regardless they never modernized their offereings, limited to a prior generation. Ethan Allen?, good but at far too high a price for the average Joe. Stores that create a value between what you get and what you pay will continue do well. McDonalds, albeit tasteless is inexpensive and consistent, a value (can’t argue with that kinda of success). In-n-Out Burgers (sorry east coasters, best big chain) is three times as good and about three times the cost, thus also a value.
Rite Aid is getting their collective butts kicked by WalGreens. Wilsons? Who wears leather anymore? Footlocker? I can get the same stuff on-line or at Big-5 without having to go to some hard to get too mall store. Sorry, can’t get to excited about this one, outside of feeling badly for those who have lost their jobs. I hope they can recover and can get some additional skills beyond retail sales.
Starbucks? You mean it doesn’t make business sense to make people stand in a line like cattle for 15 minutes for the opportunity to buy a $6 cup of coffee? Oh the humanity!
Also, a ConcernedCanuck of all people should point out that, and this is a fact, there are more Starbucks in Canada than there are Canadians.
It would be interesting to see an analysis of WHY these companies are closing stores, especially regarding the effect effect of higher sales taxes, online sales, and competition from Walmart and other big dept stores.
War profits are still excellent.
Undiminished as a matter of fact.
Of course, all the executives who close all those stores will be handsomely rewarded for all their hard work.
What a wonderful thing it is to live under an economy based on capitalist excess.
Jeon Ji-Yung @ 43:
Really? Where? Over 3000 Tim Horton’s but haven’t seen many Starbucks.
harley @ 28:
Ironically, the Spencer’s in a mall near you just keeps chuggin’ along.
‘Cause even if the gas bill has been addin’ up for three straight months, we still need those Chuckie Dolls and Carmen Electra Professional Pole Kits. Don’t laugh about the latter- that Professional Pole Kit may be your daughters’ savior someday.
There’s definitely trouble in the retail sector. Available space is going through the roof. But technology is what is killing Movie Gallery, when you think about it. Yeah–they are a shit company, and so was Hollywood Video. In many respects, Hollywood Video’s decline means certain religious affiliations are losing tons of money, as is the decline of Blockbuster. When the God boys decided to get into the entertainment market and try to influence the culture, the culture simply turned to other methods to get what it wanted. To see companies owned or partly owned by the religious right go down the tubes is a blessing.
Quite a few of the companies listed that are going out of business are behind the times. The wireless market is changing, people are getting their entertainment via downloads or payperview, and the retail chains that cater to the high end are losing out because people have less cash to spend thanks to gas prices and inflation. Bombay company offered awful stuff–we had a gift certificate there that we basically threw away.
Hmmm..Foot locker. Could that be because there is no dominant pro NBA player right now that can market shoes? LeBron is still young, but how are you going to build a shoe company around him when he can’t win a championship?
There’s gotta be a theory for all of these stores as to why they’re closing…
What amazes me is not so much the stores that are closing, but the ones that the people with minds still stuck in the Bush Bubble are OPENING. For example, a new Ruth’s Chris steakhouse is soon opening in *Fresno* (probably one of the lowest per-capita-income cities in the U.S., with one of the highest home foreclosure rates). Yeah, those homeless farm workers will definitely be flocking to $100/person steak dinners.
How much you want to bet that location is going to show up on their underperforming-closures list in a year?
Sharper Image - Closed
Starbucks - closing 600 US locations by end of May 2009