Stores Closings-Think twice about giving gift cards this Christmas....

Clark Howard, the consumer reporter, suggests 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 BananaRepublic . The company said the closures -
ll 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 future 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 alreadyThe furniture retailer, which 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. Today, 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 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 - 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. It's 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 - Closed 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 axe 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-mortar 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 and Office Depot 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.

Umm.. Gift cards are FDIC insured now.
FDIC rules: Gift cards qualify as deposits
and here

Love how the government's going to protect us from everything.

gatzdon said: Holy crap. I was expecting to see an article from the Onion or something.
Yeah, I nearly drove off the road the other day when this was first mentioned on NPR. I thought they were joking. It's ridiculous.

do178b said: I'm not sure what I would read into that. Yes the deposits are insured by FDIC. But I think the deposits are owned by the store, not the card holder. Card holder may end up in line behind all the creditors. And who's to say there are any deposits? Store can just process gift cards through the normal cash flow.

Gift cards are owned by the cardholder, not the store. If it is owned by the store, you're basically giving them money and getting nothing in return. Doesn't make sense.

Also read the FDIC ruling. It's pretty clear that they are protecting the consumer.

Gift cards are lame even without the added risk of retailer bankruptcy. Why turn perfectly good money that can be spent anywhere into a card good at only one place? Never made any sense to me. I don't give them and I don't like getting them.

geo123 said: SnoopDoug said: Gift cards are lame even without the added risk of retailer bankruptcy. Why turn perfectly good money that can be spent anywhere into a card good at only one place? Never made any sense to me. I don't give them and I don't like getting them.Because many of us buy them at 20% off through places like DP, combine them with additional discounts and coupons and end up with absolutely smoking deals. For instance, I don't remember the last time we bought something from Amazon, Staples, Circuit City, Home Depot, Lowes, Bed Bath and Beyond, Macy's or Babies R Us/Toys R Us without 20% off gift cards. For the longest time people were also using 20% off Shell and BP cards to save quite a bit on gas. At this point I've saved thousands of dollars through these cards with minimal effort.

OK, I will give you that...that may be the one exception. If you are buying them for yourself at a discount for a store you KNOW you will soon spend them in that makes sense. But most people I know who buy gift cards do so at face value, and most of the time I've gotten them as gifts it's for a store that I rarely shop anyway.

geo123 said: Because many of us buy them at 20% off through places like DP,

So..... how about buying, at a 20% discount, GCs to a company you expect to fail, then collecting the balance from the FDIC? 20% cash profit ftw!

MadAnthony said: To me, that sounds like they are only talking about gift/stored value cards from a bank that's FDIC insured, ie prepaid visa/mc cards issued by a bank that the FDIC took over. Since retailers aren't "insured depository institutions", I don't think they qualify.

god I hope you're right. Insuring gift cards from stores would be really unfair IMO. Gift cards are a bad deal for everyone except the FW elite and the stores (who make interest on the money you've traded for the card).

oopsz said: DP? Is that a site?
DP thread

My Xmas budget is set at $100.

Green to Op, interesting point you raise

I suppose, if my giftee is fussy, I might purchase a vanilla, greendox, or am.x giftcard.

Though, I suppose holding a gift card if a business is about to go under, one could potentially have more recourse than a person who received a gift from said store, and tries to return the gift after the holidays ......per usual...