Christmas shopping? Get your bargains here -

@coffeebreak (17798)
United States
November 8, 2008 6:35pm CST
Not exactly sure of all these, but many I know are closing... check out the ones near you.... Clark Howard the consumer reporter suggest not giving gift cards at all this year. If the business goes under, the card will be no good and that will just be money down the drain. Ann Taylor closing 117 stores nationwide A company spokeswoman said the company hasn't revealed which stores will be shuttered. It will let the stores that will close this fiscal year know over the next month. Eddie Bauer to close more stores Eddie Bauer has already closed 27 shops in the first quarter and plans to close up to two more outlet stores by the end of the year. Cache closing stores. Women's retailer Cache announced that it is closing 20 to 23 stores this year. Lane Bryant, Fashion Bug, Catherines closing 150 stores nationwide. The owner of retailers Lane Bryant , Fashion Bug , Catherines Plus Sizes will close about 150 underperforming stores this year. The company hasn't provided a list of specific store closures and can't say when it will offer that info, spokeswoman Brooke Perry said today. Talbots, J. Jill closing stores. About a month ago, Talbots announced that it will be shuttering all 78 of its kids and men's stores. Now the company says it will close another 22 underperforming stores.. The 22 stores will be a mix of Talbots women's and J. Jill , another chain it owns. The closures will occur this fiscal year, according to a company press release. Gap Inc. closing 85 stores. In addition to its namesake chain, Gap also owns Old Navy and Banana Republic . The company said the closures - all planned for fiscal 2008 - will be weighted toward the Gap brand. Foot Locker to close 140 stores. In the company press release and during its conference call with analysts today, it did not specify where the futu re store closures - all planned in fiscal 2008 - will be. The company could not be immediately reached for comment. Wickes is going out of business. Wickes Furniture is going out of business and closing all of its stores, Wickes, a 37-year-old retailer that targets middle-income customers, filed for bankruptcy protection last month. Goodbye Levitz / BOMBAY - closed already. The furniture retailer is going out of business. Levitz first announced it was going out of business and closing all 76 of its stores in December. The retailer dates back to 1910 when Richard Levitz opened his first furniture store in Lebanon , PA. In the 1960s, the warehouse/showroom concept brought Levitz to the forefront of the furniture industry. The local Levitz closures will follow the shutdown of Bombay . Zales, Piercing Pagoda closing stores. The owner of Zales and Piercing Pagoda previously said it plans to close 82 stores by July 31. Tod ay, it announced that it is closing another 23 underperforming stores. The company said it's not providing a list of specific store closures. Of the 105 locations planned for closure, 50 are kiosks and 55 are stores. Disney Store owner has the right to close 98 stores. The Walt Disney Company announced it acquired about 220 Disney Stores from subsidiaries of The Children's Place Retail Stores. The exact number of stores acquired will depend on negotiations with landlords. Those subsidiaries of Children's Place filed for bankruptcy protection in late March. Walt Disney in the news release said it has also obtained the right to close about 98 Disney Stores in the U.S. The press release didn't list those stores. Home Depot store closings ( E. Brunswick , Rt 18 just put up their closing sign). ATLANTA - Nearly 7+ months after its chief executive said there were no plans to cut the number of its core retail stores, The Home Depot Inc. announced Thursday that it is shuttering 15 of them amid a slumping U.S.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 for performance reasons. Its shares rose almost 5 percent.The Atlanta-based company said the underperforming U.S. stores being closed represent less than 1 percent of its existing stores. They will be shuttered within the next two months. CompUSA (CLOSED) clarifies details on store closings. Any extended warranties purchased for products through CompUSA will be honored by a third-party provider, Assurant Solutions. Gift cards, rain checks, and rebates purchased prior to December 12 can be redeemed at any time during the final sale. For those who have a gadget currently in for service with CompUSA, the repair will be completed and the gadget will be returned to owners. http://www.news.com/8301-10784_3-9834177-7html Macy's - 9 stores. Movie Gallery - 160 stores as part of reorganization plan to exit bankruptcy. The 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. Pacific Sunwear - 153 Demo stores. Pep Boys - 33 stores. Sprint Nextel - 125 retail locations. New Sprint Nextel CEO Dan Hesse appears to have inherited a company bleeding subscribers by the thousands, and will now officially be dropping the ax on 4,000 employees and 125 retail locations. Amid the loss of 639,000 postpaid customers in the fourth quarter, Sprint will be cutting a total of 6.7% of its work force (following the 5,000 layoffs last year) and 8% of company-owned brick-and-mort ar stores, while remaining mute on other rumors that it will consolidate its headquarters in Kansas . Sprint Nextel shares are down $2.89, or nearly 25%, at the time of this writing. J. C. Penney, Lowe's are scaling back. Ethan Allen Interiors: The company announced plans to close 12 of 300+ stores in an effort to cut costs. Wilsons The Leather Experts - 158 stores. Pacific Sunwear Will close its 154 Demo stores after a review of strategic alternatives for the urban-apparel brand. Seventy-four underperforming Demo stores closed last May. Sharper Image: The company recently filed for bankruptcy protection and announced that 90 of its 184 stores are closing. The retailer will still operate 94 stores to pay off debts, but 90 of these stores have performed poorly and also may close. Bombay Company: (Freehold Mall store closed) The company unveiled plans to close all 384 U.S.-based Bombay Company stores. The company's online storefront has discontinued operations. KB Toys posted a list of 356 stores that it is closing around the United States as part of its bankruptcy reorganization. To see the list of store closings, go to the KB Toys Information web site, and click on Press Information. Dillard's to Close More Stores. Dillard's Inc. said it will continue to focus on closing underperforming stores, reducing expenses and improving its merchandise in 2008. At the company's annual shareholder meeting, CEO William Dillard II said the company will close another six underperforming stores this year.
2 people like this
3 responses
@chrislotz (8137)
• Canada
9 Nov 08
Wow, too much to read coffeebreak. I skimmed it and got the jest of your discussion. I agree with not buying gift certificates, gift cards, because of the same reasons as stated here. You never know when a company is going to go under and have to close their doors. So it is safer not to buy any. In our family we don't buy gift cards. We all buy one gift for $30 and then we wrap them and don't put any names on them. We then all pick a number from a hat and the first person to get number 1 picks a gift and unwraps it infront of us. The next person, number 2, picks a gift and either opens it or exchanges it with number 1 person. So if the number 1 person has something that the number 2 person wants he takes it from number 1 and gives his unwrapped gift to him. Number 1 then opens the gift so everyone can see what it is. Then number 3 person picks a gift and can switch it with number 1 or number 2. We do this till all of us has picked a gift. It is a lot of fun. There are usually about 25 of us, my immediate family, so it lasts about 2 hours and we have a lot of laughs doing it. Alrighty then, talk to you later. Your friend, Chris
2 people like this
@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
10 Nov 08
My family did that one year, it turned out really nice but some just didn't want to do it, I guess. Buy a "generic" gift - can be used by a man or woman or the whole family. Then choose the numbers and have fun "playing the game" which also just entertains everyone to have fun. I thought it turned out nice but it was hard as my family's incomes are so diverse. There is me who can't hardly afford to pay attention, my son and his wife that are in the space industry and make bukop bucks, so what the heck do you buy them - they got it all! And they don't think down on my level, and so on. My SIL and brother bought 2 gift cards one from Target and one from Borders - she chose her own gift!! THen when someone choose the gift card she had, she went and chose the gift her husband did (the other gift card) Sufice to say, we do no gifts for adults now! But it sure was fun while it lasted!
2 people like this
@chrislotz (8137)
• Canada
10 Nov 08
That's too bad that your family didn't like it. We, my family, have a lot of fun playing it.
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@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
11 Nov 08
But that's the problem! I thought it was ALOT of fun! I really enjoyed it and I know my grand daughter (it was only for adults, the kids already got their gifts) did as my brother kind of took her on "his team" and let her choose what she thought he should have but then would make her think about it like "do you choose that big one or that little one?" and athings like that. I thought at the time everyone enjoyed it, but later in conversations it came out that they didnt so we didn't do it the next year! Just a bunch of stick-in-the-muds!
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@drannhh (15219)
• United States
9 Nov 08
That is interesting news. I still plan on giving gift cards, none of the stores on that list are ones that I would ever consider shopping at in the first place. But for those who do, that is a timely warning. When we see these gift cards showing up on eBay at a deep discount, we will know to beware! This kind of information is one of the neat things about myLot. Thanks!
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@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
10 Nov 08
Only one I have shopped at is KB Toys and used their store coupon. The rest are rather out of my range! You'd think they'd just lower prices instead of going out of business tho. I hadn't thought about htem being sold on Ebay - boy, thanks for mentioning that. Others might want to know about that! That'd be horrible to buy one and have it closed! I do gift cards from local stores that my kids like - like Starbucks or Boot Barn. IT's what they like and can't afford regularly and then they cant take their cash and buy whatever else.
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@drannhh (15219)
• United States
11 Nov 08
That is what we try to do too, buy them a gift card to a store they like but wouldn't normally buy from because it has items they might not actually NEED, or higher priced items than they usually buy. But we also like to give Wal-Mart/Sam's Club cards because for one thing I "earn" some of those doing online surveys etc., and for another just about anyone can find something nice there at prices that give them more bang for the buck ;-) Oh, yeah, someone will try to scam people with those worthless gift cards and people who don't keep up with the news will probably bite.
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@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
11 Nov 08
Some of those I never heard of! And it was on the evening news tonight too. I always do unusual stores too - I did Target for my son last year as he likes to buy his CD's and DVD's there. He doesn't hae much time to shop sales cause of his job (law enforcement) so he finds that Target is just what works for him....I could find them cheaper but a mom's gotta let go sometime!!!
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@jillhill (37354)
• United States
9 Nov 08
Wow that's alot of stores! I see also that sales are up at the second hand stores...they are scoring right now. I do give gift cards to my kids because they don't live around here...but to Target or Walmart...or their favorite restaurant. The shipping is too high to send gift...so they each get a small gift to open and a gift card.
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@coffeebreak (17798)
• United States
9 Nov 08
SOunds like a good plan. I never liked gift cards - back in my day they were called gift certificates! but I just never thought they said much for the personal thought of a gift. But in recent years, have come to experience and understand that they have a great place in the gift giving world! I got my daughter a $50 Starbucks gift card 2 years ago and have never heard her squeal and laugh and jump and clap so much in my life! THat smile was the biggest too! Yeah, she drinks it away, but it sure was worth it to see that and know that she was so happy with the gift - as opposed to something that she might not really wanted or needed. And she thought of me all the times she used the card - the gift that lasts!!! My DIL and I was just talking about thrift stores today - their prices sure have gone UP!!!
1 person likes this