Retailers at risk of closing

[Spiff]

McDonalds and Amazon.com are actually some of the FEW businesses doing very well in this economy.

Sure, their execs are probably very comfortable. But how is their average employee doing? Can they even afford a wet dream?

 

[sunoftheskye]

Sure, their execs are probably very comfortable. But how is their average employee doing? Can they even afford a wet dream?

Well, they at least have jobs, which is more than I can say for a lot of people.

 

[PabloZed]

The point Rule-of-Thirds makes about malls is very important because it captures the death spiral an economy can enter. Less income/weatlth -> less spending/consumption -> fewer sales -> less manufacturing and closed stores -> less income and fewer jobs -> cycle repeats.

When that mall closes it will drive property values lower and will mean less tax revenue for government, which will inturn cut jobs and services.

A government stimulus is intended to step in and replace some of the loss income and spending as well as prop up local governments. To do nothing is to allow the death spiral to basically collapse the whole economy.

 

[Kulindahr]

not just Sears. They are pure profit no matter where you shop.

Not quite pure profit. A good third of the people who get them will forget they ever did. Another third will never need them. Of the remainder, some will sell or give the item to someone else, invalidating the contract, others will lose the necessary paperwork, others will try to fix it themselves, thus invalidating the contract, others will get mad and just toss it... and a few will need the service, remember the paperwork, and get the work done.

It's gambling, except that a lot of players forget they placed bets or wander off from the table. This puts the odds in the house's favor in a big way.


Then there are outfits like AAMCO, which puts all the income from those maintenance contracts into a single fund, and it sits there and earns income to cover the contracts, and they use it to borrow from and pay the interest effectively back to themselves -- it covers a lot of things commercial paper is used for by companies with less smarts.

 

[Kulindahr]

I bought a Columbia coat at Belks that was marked down from $115 to $89 and then to $42.99. The sales associate asked me FOUR TIMES if I'd like to open a credit account and get another 15% off the coat. I said, "No" four times.

I always take those offers. Then I lock up the cards except to use when I would buy something there anyway, and pay it off on schedule.

It used to do wonders for a guy's credit rating; I'm not so sure any more.

 

[Sammie13]

Even Wal mart isn't immune to workforce slashing. They announced on Friday the 13th that they're closing a GA distribution center and laying off 400 full-time employees there.

 

[Yooper]

Saturday's Breaking News:
GM considering Chapter 11 filing, new company: report

CHICAGO (Reuters) – General Motors Corp, nearing a Tuesday deadline to present a viability plan to the U.S. government, is considering as one option a Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing that would create a new company, the Wall Street Journal said in its Saturday edition.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090214...5bl9tb3N0X3BvcHVsYXIEc2xrA2dtY29uc2lkZXJpbg--

 

[Sammie13]

I think most of the power retailers in America will slash jobs and close under-performing stores, but ultimately will survive. This includes JCPenny (just closed about 50 stores), Target (just laid off nearly 1000), Macy's (closed about a dozen stores), Dillard's, Home Depot (laid of thousands and closed the EXPO stores), Lowe's. Dillard's may be a little on the fence here long-term as they have alot of debt.

Some like Sears might revert more to an appliance/electronic and hardware store concept. They make money from these items, but the remainder of their stores--clothing, jewelry, etc. struggle. I can't believe the Kmart stores are still open.

There are major retailers in deep trouble...Rite Aid, Eckerd, Office Depot, Toys R Us. The electronic and furniture stores always struggle in downturns. Furniture stores seem to be the first to bite it during recessionary times. With credit so hard to come by, they have trouble buying inventory not to mention difficulty selling it. And then so many of the smaller stores in malls that sell clothing or jewelry may find 2009 more than they can deal with.

Sirius XM satellite radio is in such debt that they may not survive another few months. Despite nearly 20 million subscribers, their debt is weighing heavily on the companies that merged a year and a half ago. Most think a buyout is imminent within the next 90 days. One of their salespeople yesterday was relentless in trying to sell me a life membership for something like $400 or a 2-year membership. I was like, 'listen, lady, they may be dis-assembling your satellite tomorrow, I'm going month to month..."

 

[metta]

A friend keeps telling me that we are going to see a more large business closings in September. One compnay he mentioned was Sears:
http://www.dailyfinance.com/2009/06/07/on-the-brink-sears-keeps-closing-stores/
Sears operates 3,900 full-line and specialty retail stores in the U.S. and Canada, and employs 291,000.


American Icons on the Brink List

• 1. General Motors
• 2. Playboy
• 3. Kodak
• 4. Blockbuster
• 5. Six Flags

• 6. New York Times
• 7. MGM Mirage
• 8. Sears
• 9. Sirius
• 10. Sbarro

• 11. Citigroup
• 12. Saks
• 13. Clear Channel Communications

http://money.aol.com/investing/american-icons-on-the-brink

 

[metta]

Another US company bites the dust. Well....they will probably be bought out again.

Eddie Bauer.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31410494/ns/business-retail/

 

[metta]

Say it ain't so. Smith & Hawken closing.

I used to have fun shopping in those stores. I do admit that I have not been since the economy slowed down though. I wonder if they will keep offering stuff at Target.

http://www.costar.com/News/Article.aspx?id=92B90E163B66685513962FDDBBEDBCF8


There web site is down. Their stores currently have it marked off 25-40%
http://www.smithandhawken.com/store-locator/

 

[Kulindahr]

I noticed downtown yesterday that one store hung up a sign that "What's Left is What There Is -- Get it Now", and another that says "Out of Business After the County Fair" (which ends in two more days).

In a small coastal town south of here, the grocery store closed, a fabric shop has moved out, and now the hardware store is selling everything by the end of the month.

The cause is unemployment, which hasn't yet passed 20% because people are packing up and leaving -- some of them homeless, since with loss of job they can't keep the house; others leaving behind a house they own but can't afford to live in.

So far logging is plugging through, but most of the lumber is going to Japan -- unfinished; they mill it to their own specs from the rough beams shipped over.

Dairy is hanging in there, but milk prices are getting weak, which bodes ill.

 

[ronboy]

I think that the next major retailer to cut back drastically or to close entirely will be Bon Ton Stores.

I was just at their Greece Ridge Mall Store. There were hardly any saleseople or customers around. The 160,000 square foot store is only half in use, (they had moved everything except furniture to the first floor). The upper level, mostly walled off, is like a giant furniture department. They used to carry big and tall sizes for men and women...no more. They used to have seriously good markdowns (like an additional percentage off the marked price when you got to the cash registers).

This is a high traffic mall too. Very discouraging. I noticed the same thing at their Marketplace Mall store (another very busy mall).

Bon Ton also owns Elder-Beerman, Younker's, PA Bergner's, The Boston Store, Carson Pirie Scott & Company, and Herberger's. I wonder if those stores are doing as badly as Bon Ton appears to be.....

 

[Beachguyj]

There is a KMart a few miles from where I live and it is a ghost town on weekdays. I've never gone on the weekends, but when I go on weekdays you are lucky to find one register open besides the one on the corner where they sell things that are kept behind the counter.

They often have good specials. I got swim trunks at 50% off and they were only $9. This time of year they should have most of their shorts on sale. I got several casual running/basketball shorts last year for $2 each.