Center City retail discussion - Page 161 - PhillyBlog

Hospitalitygirl · #**1601** (**permalink**) 04-15-2008, 10:13 AM

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/15/bu...retail.html?hp

This may deserve its own thread.

Quote:

The consumer spending slump and tightening credit markets are unleashing a widening wave of bankruptcies in American retailing, prompting thousands of store closings that are expected to remake suburban malls and downtown shopping districts across the country.
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David Zalubowski/Associated Press
To avoid bankruptcy some chains are closing stores. Foot Locker said it would close 140 stores over the next year.

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Since last fall, eight mostly midsize chains — as diverse as the furniture store Levitz and the electronics seller Sharper Image — have filed for bankruptcy protection as they staggered under mounting debt and declining sales.
But the troubles are quickly spreading to bigger national companies, like Linens ‘n Things, the bedding and furniture retailer with 500 stores in 47 states. It may file for bankruptcy as early as this week, according to people briefed on the matter.
Even retailers that can avoid bankruptcy are shutting down stores to preserve cash through what could be a long economic downturn. Over the next year, Foot Locker said it would close 140 stores, Ann Taylor will start to shutter 117, and the jeweler Zales will close 100.
The surging cost of necessities has led to a national belt-tightening among consumers. Figures released on Monday showed that spending on food and gasoline is crowding out other purchases, leaving people with less to spend on furniture, clothing and electronics. Consequently, chains specializing in those goods are proving vulnerable.
Retailing is a business with big ups and downs during the year, and retailers rely heavily on borrowed money to finance their purchases of merchandise and even to meet payrolls during slow periods. Yet the nation’s banks, struggling with the growing mortgage crisis, have started to balk at extending new loans, effectively cutting up the retail industry’s collective credit cards.
“You have the makings of a wave of significant bankruptcies,” said Al Koch, who helped bring Kmart out of bankruptcy in 2003 as the company’s interim chief financial officer and works at a corporate turnaround firm called AlixPartners.
“For years, no deal was too ugly to finance,” he said. “But now, nobody will throw money at these companies.”
Because retailers rely on a broad network of suppliers, their bankruptcies are rippling across the economy. The cash-short chains are leaving behind tens of millions of dollars in unpaid bills to shipping companies, furniture manufacturers, mall owners and advertising agencies. Many are unlikely to be paid in full, spreading the economic pain.
When it filed for bankruptcy, Sharper Image owed $6.6 million to United Parcel Service. The furniture chain Levitz owed Sealy $1.4 million.
And it is not just large companies that are absorbing the losses. When Domain, the furniture retailer, filed for bankruptcy, it owed On Time Express, a 90-employee transportation and logistics company in Tempe, Ariz., about $30,000.
“We’ll be lucky to see pennies on the dollar, if we see anything,” said Ross Musil, the chief financial officer of On Time Express. “It’s a big loss.”
Most of the ailing companies have filed for reorganization, not liquidation, under the bankruptcy laws, including the furniture chain Wickes, the housewares seller Fortunoff, Harvey Electronics and the catalog retailer Lillian Vernon. But, in a contrast with previous recessions, many are unlikely to emerge from bankruptcy, lawyers and industry experts said.
Changes in the federal bankruptcy code in 2005 significantly tightened deadlines for ailing companies to restructure their businesses, offering them less leeway.
And the changes may force companies to pay suppliers before paying wages or honoring obligations to customers, like redeeming gift cards, said Sally Henry, a partner in the bankruptcy law practice at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom and the author of several books on bankruptcy.
As a result, she said, “it’s no longer reorganization or even liquidation for these companies. In many cases, it’s evaporation.”
Several of the retailers that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection over the last eight months, like the furniture sellers Bombay, Levitz and Domain, have begun to wind down — closing stores, laying off workers and liquidating merchandise.
In most cases, the collapses stemmed from a combination of factors: flawed business strategies, a souring economy and banks’ unwillingness to issue cheap loans....

iamcpoo · #**1602** (**permalink**) 04-15-2008, 03:05 PM

Yes, they are closing. There is a 'store closing' sign on their front windows.

Notcom · #**1603** (**permalink**) 04-15-2008, 03:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hospitalitygirl

David Zalubowski/Associated Press
To avoid bankruptcy some chains are closing stores. Foot Locker said it would close 140 stores over the next year.
.

Good lord (!) that'll leave FL with only - what ? - 100,000 stores nationwide ?

Notcom for Governor '08
Impeach Rendell: give 'im the boot !!

phonziexd · #**1604** (**permalink**) 04-15-2008, 03:40 PM

im happy that foot locker is closing some of its stores. way tooo many of them in the first place. Finish Line is so much better anyway [maybe i'm biased because I used to work there]. i guess that article explains loehmanns and arden b going. and benetton.

heres an article i found from 2000 i think that says loehmann's had to close 11 stores back then due to heavy first quarter losses:

http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2...6-27984872_ITM

and also from that nytimes article i found that was interesting:

"Plenty of retailers remain on strong footing. Arnold H. Aronson, the former chief executive of Saks Fifth Avenue and a managing director at Kurt Salmon Associates, a retail consulting firm, said the credit tightness and consumer spending slowdown have only wiped out the “bottom tier” companies in retailing.
Charming Shoppes, which owns the women’s clothing retailers Lane Bryant and Fashion Bug, is closing at least 150 stores. Wilsons the Leather Experts will close 158. And Pacific Sunwear is shutting a 153-store chain called Demo."

and this article about wet seal's losses from 2006...the parent company of arden b.:
http://www.thestreet.com/story/10287...-wet-seal.html

nifear · #**1605** (**permalink**) 04-15-2008, 05:57 PM

The discount at Loehmann's right now is 20-50% everything in the store. The place was mobbed, but not too many people actually checking out. Women's shoe selection sucked, apparel was obviously already heavily picked over, but there were lots and lots of bags to chose from. I just spent a shitton of money there, but got a shitload of stuff

note to self: next time stick to shopping ban.

ms_evelyng · #**1606** (**permalink**) 04-16-2008, 08:55 PM

Yeah, great discounts. I got 6 pieces and only paid $183!! which include a cute DVF tunic dress

Well sadly the reason they are closing is bc of the rent. I asked the store manager she said "the rent is ridiculous, what the landlord wants it;s INSANE. This whole strip the rent is just insane"
She told there's another store somewhere near Hill something...

Quote:

Originally Posted by nifear

The discount at Loehmann's right now is 20-50% everything in the store. The place was mobbed, but not too many people actually checking out. Women's shoe selection sucked, apparel was obviously already heavily picked over, but there were lots and lots of bags to chose from. I just spent a shitton of money there, but got a shitload of stuff

note to self: next time stick to shopping ban.

Hospitalitygirl · #**1607** (**permalink**) 04-16-2008, 08:58 PM

Drexel Hill:

Drexel Hill
1053 Pontiac Rd.
(610) 789-9100
Manager: Pradeep Kohli
Mon - Fri 10:00am - 9:00pm
Sat 10:00am - 7:00pm
Sun 11:00am - 6:00pm

ms_evelyng · #**1608** (**permalink**) 04-16-2008, 09:01 PM

Great, thanks. Is that in Philly?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hospitalitygirl

Drexel Hill:

Drexel Hill
1053 Pontiac Rd.
(610) 789-9100
Manager: Pradeep Kohli
Mon - Fri 10:00am - 9:00pm
Sat 10:00am - 7:00pm
Sun 11:00am - 6:00pm

omnivore · #**1609** (**permalink**) 04-16-2008, 09:13 PM

No, just west of it.

Bryson662001 · #**1610** (**permalink**) 04-16-2008, 09:29 PM

The shopping center behind the Moorstown Mall on Rt 38has had one for years since it moved east from Loemann's Plaza in Cherry Hill.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hospitalitygirl

Drexel Hill:

Drexel Hill
1053 Pontiac Rd.
(610) 789-9100
Manager: Pradeep Kohli
Mon - Fri 10:00am - 9:00pm
Sat 10:00am - 7:00pm
Sun 11:00am - 6:00pm