• Home

Are These Retail Store Closings True?

Recently, we received an email from a follower describing a wave of retail store closures taking place around the country and caution around the purchase of Gift Cards from retailers that may not be able to honor them after the first of the year.  The list was long and was reportedly a result of the growing economic conditions that are facing our country.

We felt obligated to post this information, not only because it affects us as consumers, but because of its ties and potential impacts on both Commercial and Residential Real Estate.

Prior to posting, we decided to research this information first.  Digging around took us to…yep, you guessed it,  Snopes.com, uncovering a potential un-truth.  But, the story isn’t over yet…  We’re not going to post the original email, however have written a summary below along with a corrected list of retail store closures that have been announced.  This information was resourced and combined from articles at Snopes.com and urbanlegend.about.com.  We’ve linked to both articles at the bottom of this post.

Summary

The email that we received noted massive retail store closures, yet after further examination contained both truth and sometimes total lies.  As well, the stores listed had already made announcements of bankruptcy or store closings prior to the 2008 financial crisis.

What remains unknown at this time is how the events of the downturn and credit crisis over the last 6 months will affect retailers moving forward.  We’re definitely hearing comments ranging from caution to outright worry from our Commercial Real Estate brethren (and I’m speaking about the US, not specifically Austin here).

A final note on giftcards for retailers who have announced bankruptcy…Federal law does allow for companies to stop honoring gift cards when they file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, but of course not all businesses do.  Gift cards may continue to be accepted while the retailer reorganizes or card redemption may be temporarily suspended and resumed later.  Financial experts have stated that to be safe, it’s a good idea to redeem giftcards soon after receiving them, especially in these uncertain economic times.

Here’s the Corrected List:

Circuit City - Filed for bankruptcy on November 10, 2008 and announced the closure of 155 stores. (source, source)

Ann Taylor - Earlier this year announced it would close 117 stores out of approximately 966 locations. (source)

Lane Bryant, Fashion Bug, and Catherine’s - Nine months ago parent company Charming Shoppes Inc. announced the closing of 150 stores. (source)

Eddie Bauer - Closed 31 retail and outlet stores (in line with target number set early in the year) and opened 10 during the first three quarters of 2008. (source)

Cache - Announced early in the year it would close 21 stores and open 16 in 2008. (source)

Talbots - Closed approximately 100 stores in 2008 but is still in business and has no more closings planned. (source)

J. Jill - Owned by Talbots Inc., which wants to sell the chain but has not announced the closure of any J. Jill stores. (source)

Gap Inc. - In mid-2008 revised its projected number of store closings (including Gap, Banana Republic, and Old Navy locations) upward from 85 to approximately 115 stores for the year. (source)

Foot Locker - Closed 274 in 2007. Projected closing 140 stores in 2008. As of Nov. 20, had closed 129 stores and opened 58 new ones. (source)

Wickes Furniture - Filed for bankruptcy in early 2008 and already closed down all retail stores. (source)

Levitz Furniture - Filed for bankruptcy in late 2007 and is still in the process of liquidating assets. (source)

The Bombay Co. Filed for bankruptcy in 2007 and all stores were closed and liquidated in January 2008, minus 48 still being operated in Canada. (source)

Zales - Last February announced the planned closure of 105 stores in 2008. source

Whitehall Jewelers - Filed for bankruptcy in June 2008 and is closing all stores. (source)

Piercing Pagoda - Owned by Zales. Some, but not all, Piercing Pagoda locations were among the 105 planned closures announced by Zales in Feb. 2008. (source)

Disney - Announced in May 2008 it would close 98 stores. (source)

Home Depot - Announced in May 2008 it would close 15 stores nationwide. (source)

Macy’s - Closed 9 stores in 2008. No more closings planned (source)

Linens ‘n Things - Filed for bankruptcy in May 2008 and is closing all stores. (source)

Movie Gallery - AKA Hollywood Video, filed for bankruptcy in 2007, after plans to close 520 stores. In Feb 2008, announced 400 more store closings and in April 2008 announced 160 closures. Currently operates 3500 outlets. (source)

Pacific Sunwear - In Jan. 2008 announced the closure of 154 “demo” stores nationwide. (source)

Pep Boys - Closed 31 locations in 2008. (source)

Sprint Nextel - In Jan. 2008 announced it would close 125 stores. (source)

JC Penney - No recent announcements of planned store closures.

Ethan Allen - In Jan. 2008 announced plans to consolidate 12 retail design and service centers. (source)

Wilson Leather - Already closed 160 of its stores and is converting the remainder to sell women’s accesories. (source)

Sharper Image - Filed for bankruptcy in early 2008 and announced plans to close all 184 stores. (source)

KB Toys - Last year closed 156 stores. No closures announced for this year. (source)

Lowe’s - Has scaled back planned store openings but announced no plans to close locations. (source)

Dillard’s - Closed at 20 stores in 2008. New CEO says the company will continue closing underperforming stores. (source)

The Charming Shoppes chain stores of plus size womens clothing has closed 150 stores out of 2360.

CompUSA - Sold to Gordon Brothers for restructuring in Dec 2007 with most of its 103 outlets subsequently closed

Kirklands - Expecting to close 130 out of 335 stores by middle of 2009

Levitz Furniture - Filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Nov 2007 and began store closings

this is a blank line

This information was collected and sometimes re-printed from these sources.  Thanks to both for tracking and reporting on these events!

About.com - Click here for full article

Snopes.com - Click here for full article

---

Did you enjoy this post? Why not leave a comment below and continue the conversation, or subscribe to my feed and get articles like this delivered automatically each day to your feed reader.