These stores CLOSING??????

[evilnewbie]

There will be massive unemployment as well as a lost of a LOT of retirement funds in wall street from these closings... not only are no-skill laborers and retiree (and soon-to-be retirees) going to be in trouble, so are the people who didn't save up the past several years (which is a great deal of Americans)... this compounds the problem... don't worry... this is all part of socialism... I hear we are going to get a great deal of more socialism in the near future... so instead of fixing the problems... we going to let the problems become a permanent part of life...

[totallyfrazzled]

Last week (Nov 24th) Lenox China filed for Chapter 11. I was surprised because this is an American-based company that's been around for over 100 years. According to a friend of ours with connections in the business it was pretty much a cointoss between them filing Chapter 11 for the entire operation OR discontinuing all of their products except for the china (going back to basics). There supposedly is also a lot of discussion about Lenox drastically scaling down their fine-china line (it's now considered a "luxury item" by market analysts) in favor of the more practical products like everyday oven/microwave/table dinnerware which is also at a lower price point.

Personally I find it sad to see a longtime (since 1889!) American business like Lenox die. I couldn't care less about the imported-from-overseas garbage but at least Lenox was made in the USA. They have made the State china for five US presidents, the most recent being Bill Clinton. Would have been nice for them to have done the same for Obama.

[Lincolnian]

I don't believe this list is accurate. According to several management members I spoke to Talbots is not going out of business. A simple trip to their store would support that statement as they have plenty of fresh, current merchandise on their shelves. If they were closing they would be dragging their old junk out of the warehouses and they would not have access to large quantities of current merchandise as their suppliers would be wary of providing them with expensive inventory if they were about to fold.

Additionally, they were not offering steep discounts that were out of the ordinary for competing with other fashion retailers targeting the same customers. If they were going out of business after Christmas they would be offering exceptional values to draw customers into their store.

I also received a letter from Ann Taylor stating that this rumor and others like it are simply not true. They are opening and closing stores as a normal course of business, albeit, probably moving a bit quicker on closing unprofitable stores than in the past.

I would be highly surprised if J. Jill was closing all its stores either as this store is extremely popular among its target customers.

I wonder exactly who is behind getting these rumors started? Could it be desperate hedge fund managers looking to "clean the remaining meat off the bone" of companies that they are holding a short position?

The negative effects of this recession are being exaggerated by the cannibalistic mentality of our current equity markets. Many good companies are being annihilated by a concentrated pounding by large groups of short sellers. The dire economic reports are self-fulfilling.

The belief that one group, company, or individual can continue to profit indefinitely by taking everyone else down is irrational.

[totallyfrazzled]

That list is an email hoax. From multiple (non-Talbots) news sites during the past 7-10 days:

"Talbots Inc. is refuting an apparent e-mail hoax that announces massive store closings at the chain and its J. Jill division. The e-mail, which is of unknown origin, appears to be in widespread circulation. It falsely states that the Hingham-based retailer planned to close all of its Talbots and J. Jill stores and urged shoppers to use their gift cards before they lose all value. “The e-mail that is circulating is false and inaccurate,” Talbots spokeswoman Julie Lorigan said. “We are not shuttering our stores at either brand.”

The phrase “Talbots closing all stores” debuted on Google Trends’ “Hot List” of the 100 fastest-rising search terms on Tuesday. ...The e-mail mentioned dozens of other retail chains and their store closing plans, some of which were announced months ago and others that appear to be false or exaggerated. Some information was accurate, such as Circuit City’s plans to shut 155 stores."

It's true that some of the stores listed have indeed closed, such as Bombay Company and Levitz. IMO 90% of such "dire warnings" emails are bogus and I wish people would stop being so credulous; is it so hard take a couple of minutes to check Snopes or similar sites to see whether the information being claimed in the email is true or not, before inflicting it on anyone else??