22 Retailers Closing Stores

Standingstones

Celestial
GM assembly plant in Lordstown, Ohio is closing after 52 years.
'Gut-wrenching' day as last Chevrolet Cruze comes off line at General Motors' assembly plant in Ohio | Daily Mail Online
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My car dealer told me that customers are moving away from sedan type cars and are buying more of trucks and SUVs. Plus there is a bigger markup for those type of vehicles.
 

The shadow

The shadow knows!
Same thing in UK. High Street chains are closing one after another.
sad.. and all to common..
An off topic request sir. please take a moment to look at my 98 UFO sighting. let me know if you agree with my opinion on what was seen
 

nivek

As Above So Below
All of these shops closing around the world adds up to a huge amount of property, parking lots, buildings empty...I think abandoned buildings, empty unsellable buildings and paved lots are another form of pollution and an eyesore on the landscape...

...
 

Toroid

Founding Member
All of these shops closing around the world adds up to a huge amount of property, parking lots, buildings empty...I think abandoned buildings, empty unsellable buildings and paved lots are another form of pollution and an eyesore on the landscape...

...
I heard probably during a C2C show that the Grays told an abductee that we've paved over too much of the planet.
 

Toroid

Founding Member
Bed Bath & Beyond to close 40 stores this year as it struggles to compete with online retailers | Daily Mail Online
Bed Bath & Beyond will be closing at least 40 stores this year but may open 15
  • The company has struggled to compete with online retailers
  • The New-Jersey based home goods retailer lost more than $137 million last year
  • It is planning new initiatives including its 'next generation lab stores'
  • Bed Bath & Beyond has more than 1,500 stores across all of its brands, which also includes Christmas Tree Shops and Buy Buy Baby
 

nivek

As Above So Below
The retail apocalypse in full swing: Gymboree closes 800 stores, Shopko 105, Payless 2300, Charlotte Russe 400. What’s behind it? Some blame Amazon or changing taste, but the real culprit is private equity. We’ll explain how PE makes money as these businesses fail.


Private Equity Pillage details the business model that allows private equity firms to bankrupt chains, throw workers out of jobs, stiff vendors and still make a profit, in the context of grocery stores. 2/12 https://cepr.shorthandstories.com/private-equity-pillage/index.html …


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Here’s an overview of the business model. Private equity firms have rigged the process so they can extract profits not only from their investors (often public pension funds) but also from the companies that it “invests” in. Here's how:

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Investors, using money from public employees' pensions for example, put their $$$ in a particular private equity fund. Right off the bat, the private equity firm makes a profit because they collect management fees for just accepting the money.
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The traditional story is that private equity firms invest in already distressed companies. Yet more and more they are healthy, proven companies that the PE firm then forces to take on debt (which the company now pays interest on). This erodes its ability to stay competitive.
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On top of the new financial pressures a company faces from this debt, it *also* pays monitoring fees to the PE firm. It may need to sell assets too, like real estate, and then pay rent to occupy the buildings it once owned. Where do the proceeds go? Usually, the PE firm.

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With all this money being siphoned off from the company, it is in a much more difficult position to compete.

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Case in point: Albertsons, the 2nd largest grocer, struggles to compete, unlike Kroger's (the largest). The difference? Albertsons is owned by PE firm Cerberus and lacks $$$ to invest in multi-modal retailing. Kroger's can do all that Amazon-owned Whole Foods does & more.

Now in a precarious situation, the company might liquidate, restructure, or be sold. None might be the PE firm's most desirable outcome, but financial engineering usually ensures that it comes out on top (and it might be first in line to divvy up assets).

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Even if the PE firm doesn't make money from the bankruptcy, it has made money throughout the entire process via fees on its investors and the company it acquired, as well as from the assets the company sold off. The losers? Workers, investors like pension funds, vendors.

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But common sense reforms can help. These could be limiting the debt an acquired company can take on, being transparent about fees, limiting payments to PE firms in the aftermath of a buyout, making PE firms joint employers, and protecting workers if a company goes bust.


Private equity gets away with all of this because of loopholes in current law. But that doesn’t mean what they are doing makes sense for either workers or the economy. We need reforms that center workers and others taken advantage of in the current PE model.


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Standingstones

Celestial
One thing that bothers me about all these store closing is that we now have all these concrete eye sores blotting the landscape. Some in my area have been sitting idle for years. The idea that some new company will come in and occupy these buildings doesn’t seem realistic. It is hard to speculate on what will happen to these vast tracks of land with empty buildings just sitting there.
 

Toroid

Founding Member
Party City is closing around 45 stores because of a global helium shortage.
https://nypost.com/2019/05/10/party-city-closes-dozens-of-stores-amid-global-helium-shortage/
Party City is having trouble staying afloat amid a global helium shortage.

The New Jersey-based party supply company announced Thursday it will close around 45 stores nationwide this year as it grapples with dwindling supplies of the critical gas.

Balloons have become more difficult to find at party stores as the helium reserves of some major suppliers in the US have been depleted. The demand for the gas is growing while about 75 percent of helium comes from three suppliers in the world, USA Today reported.

“This year, after careful consideration and evaluation of our store fleet, we’ve made the decision to close more stores than usual in order to help optimize our market-level performance, focus on the most profitable locations and improve the overall health of our store portfolio,” CEO James Harrison said in a release.

The company said it typically shutters 10 to 15 stores each year, but with the future of helium up in the air, it’ll be closing nearly 5 percent of locations.

The chain didn’t disclose whether any Big Apple locations would be affected — but closings have been reported in Connecticut, Illinois, California and Washington, according to USA Today.

Meanwhile, the party chain is scrambling to find new helium supplies.

“Most importantly, we have signed a letter of agreement for a new source of helium which, subject to final execution of a definitive contract, would provide for additional quantities of helium beginning this summer and continuing for the next 2.5 years,” Harrison said.

“We believe this new source should substantially eliminate the shortfall we are experiencing at current allocation rates and improve our ability to return to a normal level of latex and metallic balloon sales.”
 

nivek

As Above So Below
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