Retail Store Closings Could Top 6,000 In 2008

[OhioChick]

POSTED: 8:39 pm EST November 18, 2008
UPDATED: 11:11 pm EST November 18, 2008

CLEVELAND -- Saks Fifth Avenue is the latest big retail chain to announce serious losses, and on Tuesday the CEO said people are not in the mood to shop.

Macy's, Gap, Target, Nordstroms and Kohl's all reported feeling the pinch, and one source expects almost 6,000 store closings this year.

Consumer expert Jay Seaton said some of your favorite stores may not be around this time next month.

"People for the holidays, they need to feel as though their gifts are coming from the heart, but this is a Christmas where I think the financial part of it comes into it too," said Seaton.

Seaton did say that stores closing may not necessarily be a bad thing for shoppers this season.

"This is one of the best years I've ever seen to shop early because the sales are now, or if you're willing to take a real chance, right at the end, because I think right at the end, right before the holiday, there's going to be an enormous amount of bargains," he said.

But he also warned that you need to be very careful because of the uncertainty of store closings.

"You need to be very clear with them and understand what the rules of the road are for that card or that particular sale item," Seaton said.

If you don't want to take a chance, Seaton said you could get a Mastercard or Visa gift card that the recipient can use anywhere.

Seaton said some stores are also bringing back lay away plants this year because of the tough economic times.

Here is a list of the store closings Newschannel5 has been able to confirm:

Circuit City
155 stores closing
6 in NE Ohio
2 will remain open in NE Ohio

Ann Taylor
117 Stores to close nationwide
Closings planned over the next 3 years
No specifics announced


Lane Bryant


40 Stores closing nationwide


Fashion Bug
100 stores closing nationwide


Catherine’s


10 stores closing nationwide


KB Toys


150 stores closing nationwide
Akron location remains open

Eddie Bauer
27 stores closing nationwide

Cache
14 stores closed but several others open

CompUSA
All stores closed


Dillards
Closed Middletown, Ohio store in April

Disney Store
98 stores closed nationwide


Home Depot
15 stores closed nationwide
2 in Ohio – Findley & Lima
Won’t open 50 stores planned for 2009
Hurt specifically byeal estate crisis

Talbots
78 men's and children's stores closed by September

Fifteen furniture chains closed last year, up from 10 in 2006 and five in 2005, according to Furniture/Today, a trade publication. Two of the largest, Wickes and Domain, closed this year.

Pacific Sunwear
154 remaining Demo stores closing

Foot Locker
140 stores closing by end of 2008

Linens N’ Things
371 stores liquidating
All set to be closed by Jan. 1

Macy’s
Already Closed: Rolling Acres Mall
Akron Canton Centre, Canton
Randall Park Mall, North Randall


Movie Gallery
160 stores as part of reorganization plan to exit bankruptcy

Zales
100 Stores


J. C. Penney, Lowe’s and Office Depot are scaling back or delaying expansion. Office Depot had planned to open 150 stores this year, but will now open 75.


Sprint Nextel
125 retail locations

More info here: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1223100/2008_store_closings_in_your_neighborhood.html?cat=3

http://www.newsnet5.com/news/18011458/detail.html

[daninthemoon]

1. Walmart wins.

[babylonsister]

2. Wow. Unemployment is everywhere-scary. And that's a lot of stores. nt

[Tom Kitten]

3. No wonder I haven't heard

from all the stores I applied for holiday jobs.

[OhioChick]

5. One of my kids works at a large

Dept. store chain. His hours have been cut terribly over the past 2 months to 1 day a week. The stores are empty.

[no_hypocrisy]

4. Home Depot.

If a store closes, a region is left virtually bereft of a place to buy hardware or supplies after HD has forced local hardware stores to close.

[SmileyRose]

6. Why not do what we do?

My birth family, nor my own family - we don't buy Christmas presents for each other at all. We perform a service of some kind for each other and for our community. We try to pick something very meaningful.

For instance, last year, my sister had a heart attack and a lot she could not do. Her husband was working 2 jobs. For Christmas, all the rest of us got together, cleaned the ever loving snot out of her house, knocked out the honeydo list, and set up a 2nd hand treadmill so she could work on her cardiac rehab at home in the winter.

As a community service, we found out about a family in similar situation but even worse. The Dad had a heart attack around the same time my sister did, and had started cardiac rehab the same week. 2 weeks later he had another one and passed away - 4 kids under 10. For the next year, we adopted that family, between all 14 of us, my brothers and their wives and their kids and me and the husband and my other sister and her family, a grown nephew and his family - he hunkered together and basically did whatever they needed. Actually after the year was over, we kept up to a lesser degree because the Mom was getting better at it on her own.

I found out when I was a little kid that a bought thing lasts all of a few minutes or a few months. Service costs the same or less and lasts a lifetime.

[mikeytherat]

8. We started doing this a few years back - adopt two families from Social Services

and get them everything for the holidays: food and toys, clothing, small appliances, the tree, everything.

mikey_the_rat

[bdamomma]

7. so sad, that so many people are going to be loosing their jobs.

and the CEO's are asking for help, sickening.

[KharmaTrain]

9. And You Ain't Seen Nothin...

Many companies are trying to hang on through the holiday season. They're already slashing prices to get some traffic in the doors and even that won't turn around what's sure to be a bloody First Quarter, 2009. In January, many of these companies will issue their 4th quarter sales figures and that could be the final nail in many coffins...tumbling their stock prices and digging them further into debt. The credit crisis means less goods are being made and shipped and a major contraction is underway. Until the debt mess is cleared and money once again flows, I look for a lot of empty malls in the year ahead.