vc318

We've probably been hearing about this for months, but tons of stores are closing up shop or filing for bankruptcy due to the slumping market. Here they are:

Steve & Barry's May File Chapter 11 - AOL Money & Finance

Store: Steve & Barry's
Why? Most if not all of the 275 Steve & Barry's stores could close if the Port Washington, N.Y., retailer files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Store: Starbucks
Stores Closing: 600
Why? After years of ambitious expansion, the coffee retailer plans to close 500 more U.S. stores than it initially planned, most of which were opened only in the last two years. Starbucks says it will try to place affected employees in neighboring coffee shops.

Store: Goody's Family Clothing
Stores Closing: 103
Why? Tennessee-based Goody's announced June 9 that it was filing a voluntary petition for Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization in Delaware, where the company is registered.

Store: A.C. Moore Arts & Crafts
Stores Closing: 7-10 Stores
Why? Citing the current tough retail environment, the East Coast crafts retailer said it was closing 5 to 7 percent of its 139 stores and will rein in plans to expand.

Store: Home Depot
Stores Closing: 15
Why? In a first for Home Depot, at the start of May it announced plans to close 15 underperforming stores in the U.S., following 1,450 job cuts since December.

Store: Linens 'n Things
Stores Closing: 120
Why? Its Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing on May 2 included news that it would close 120 underperforming Linens 'n Things stores.

Store: Disney Store
Stores Closing: 98
Why? At the beginning of May, The Walt Disney Co. announced it was assuming management of 220 Disney Stores in North America, which had been run by Children's Place. Disney plans to close 98 of the stores in the U.S. and two in Canada.

Store: 84 Lumber
Stores Closing: 12
Why? Just a month after rolling nine stores into sister facilities, 84 Lumber announced April 8 that it would close down 30 more stores, affecting about 230 workers, as the lumber retailer copes with a decline in homebuilding.

Store: Pacific Sunwear
Stores Closing: 154 Demo Stores
Why? By April, Pacific Sunwear had shut down the last of 154 struggling Demo stores, which sold urban-inspired clothing. PacSun closed 74 underperforming Demo stores a year ago.

Store: Fashion Bug
Stores Closing: 150
Why? In early February, retailer Charming Shoppes announced it would shut down 150 underperforming stores, including 100 Fashion Bug stores, 4 Petite Sophisticate stores, and the remainder a balance of Lane Bryant and Catherine's stores.

More are lsited on the link posted. Wow, these are really crazy times. It's sad to think how many more people are going to be unemployed after this.

Melis

Wow, that is too bad.


Is there any way to find out which stores are closing? I like AC Moore, and I want to know if any of the ones there me are clossing.

vc318

You might want to call customer service but they probably don't know which exact stores they're closing yet.

iheartjustinchambers

Goody's Family Clothing at my local mall has been closed for a few months now.

sunnykerr

Darn. I'm going to the States next October, and I really wanted to check out Steve and Barry's. I saw a segment about them on 60 Minutes recently and their stores looked like they were worth a gander.

sm_love_dc

I work for a retailer that just closed my store down. I was transfered, thank goodness. Because I was able to manage the store well, be were exceeding the previous qusrted by 13%. But the mall was charging over a million dollars for the spot. Since we could not make that much money for rent alone, delivery and merchandice costs have sky rocketed, the company has decided not to renew our contract. The stores around me were paying upwards of $15 dollars an hour for high school students. It is a trend that is going to continue.

vc318

You were lucky to be transfered as opposed to being just let go.

Well, I think Apple is one store where the workers there aren't worried about being laid off. I hear people waited over 12 hours for the new IPhone today and most stores are sold out already. Crazy.

sm_love_dc

Yah, that was pretty crazy.

sunnykerr

This recession is only getting scarier and scarier as days go by.

vc318

Some places are trying to save themselves by using deep discount promotions. Like, Starbucks is going to offer $1 cups of coffee to lure people into their shops. I think it's going to take more than that, though.

Wild Pikachu

I don't know about the others, but Starbucks' expansion was just stupid. Most of those new stores they're closing were opened just two or three blocks from existing Starbucks—of course that means the new one siphons business away from the old one. Duh.

sunnykerr

Between spreading themselves too thin and selling the product at what is hopefully below-cost prices (otherwise, they should be ashamed of themselves), I don't see any way Starbucks bounces back from this.

~Unfaithful~

I left my job in February because my husband was promised a full time position with a company who ended up not hiring him, and he has been unable to get a job anywhere. He has been with his current employer over 6 years, and has a college degree. Every year he gets his annual review and his boss says his only flaw is that he is stagnating. Yet, he is still unable to find employment?
Things just seem so scary.

_Jmarit_

Wow.

Steve & Barry's and Fashion Bug are two of my favorite stores for clothes but now after reading this I kinda realize I actually haven't had the money to go shopping in months. Never thought other people had the same problem and really never thought it would lead to stores closing.

And looking at them, practically almost all of the stores listed are "Mall" based stores. And I don't know how many people are familiar with Upstate New York but Syracuse is adding on to the Carousel Mall up here and are spending millions apparently making it "Bigger than Mall of America" and back when they were budgeting it, they were talking about all the jobs it would bring. Now it all is pretty much useless because what's spending millions adding onto a mall when you're not going to have any stores to rent the space?

The economy is just downright scary right now. I only work for minimum wage with a 25 cent raise a year at a local convenience store, but knowing all the people without jobs, i've never been more grateful for mine. But with gas prices and the way food is going up.. who knows what will happen next.

vc318

That's sad. You mention that he has been with his current employer for 6 years now. So, is he still working for that company? It's like if you have a college degree, you're doomed in getting a position. The businesses see it like this - they can train someone down below to do what you do for way less. With your degree, they probably feel forced to pay you what you're supposed to get. It's the outsourcing fiasco. When you have a president that credits the companies that hire people elsewhere and take our jobs away, that terrifies me.

_Jmarit_, it's like the housing market. Tons of new condos were built in areas like Florida, California and Arizona and now the only ones living in them are the homeless due to high numbers of foreclosures. Businesses know that people are dying for a job and that people will take next to nothing just to say they're employed. I'm so glad this guy is leaving office soon. I just hope that the nightmare doesn't continue with the next president.

Sunny, although I love Starbuck's specialty coffees, there really are too many of them. Like where I live, there are 3 on one block! Is that even necessary?