22 Retailers Closing Stores

pigfarmer

tall, thin, irritable
Most companies haven't sussed out the online game yet. They just feel the balance sheet squeeze, but don't see the way out. They just keep postponing the decision while slowly bleeding cash. And a publicly owned companies are run by committee, in which nobody has relevant experience.

Basically AI is democratizing capitalism, at least for those that jump on the train early. Instead of one company dangerously locking huge amount of capital in inventory, that company gets thousands of small businesses to pay for the stock, while aggregator company deals with payments and logistics.

I remember when optical character recognition was new and was suitably impressed. I've now seen retail apps that include object recognition - use your smartphone camera to scan something, watch it noodle around with vectors and then comparing it to the store's inventory. Imperfect, slow for now but when you take the time to understand what it's doing it's pretty cool.
 

pigfarmer

tall, thin, irritable
Most companies haven't sussed out the online game yet. They just feel the balance sheet squeeze, but don't see the way out. They just keep postponing the decision while slowly bleeding cash. And a publicly owned companies are run by committee, in which nobody has relevant experience.

Basically AI is democratizing capitalism, at least for those that jump on the train early. Instead of one company dangerously locking huge amount of capital in inventory, that company gets thousands of small businesses to pay for the stock, while aggregator company deals with payments and logistics.

Not just retailers. I worked for a company with a crappy business model that failed to address the obvious changes going on around it. AI is wonderful but never underestimate the power of humans to put the blinders on and behave stupidly for very organic reasons.
 

Dejan Corovic

As above, so bellow
yeah, I think that AI is a tool that should be embraced rather than be afraid off.

The biggest thing right now are these suggestion engines. They track all your choices on the site and than select the content or product to be shown to you. I would never be able on my own to discover such good content because it is too niche. Same goes for products.
 

Dejan Corovic

As above, so bellow
At least here in UK Coronavirus just came in a right time so that ensuing economic downturn can be blamed on virus instead on Brexit.
 

Sheltie

Fratty and out of touch.
Circuit City

A wealthy investor bought all the rights to Circuit City a few years ago. There are several experts who say this new Texas-based incarnation could succeed if they keep the emphasis on online sales and the store-within-a-store concept instead of superstores. It could become the lean mean fighting machine the retailer tried to become when it was first faced with competition from Best Buy and the internet.
 

wwkirk

Divine
Circuit City

A wealthy investor bought all the rights to Circuit City a few years ago. There are several experts who say this new Texas-based incarnation could succeed if they keep the emphasis on online sales and the store-within-a-store concept instead of superstores. It could become the lean mean fighting machine the retailer tried to become when it was first faced with competition from Best Buy and the internet.
I used to love that store. I hope it bounces back in the way you suggested.
 

Sheltie

Fratty and out of touch.
I worked at the Circuit City Corporate HQ for almost 8 years. It was sad to see the mighty ship go down.

I worked a seasonal job at a Best Buy store last year and I was amazed at how much empty, unused space they have in their showrooms. Best Buy also teetered on the verge of bankruptcy during the great recession.

A streamlined Circuit City that relies heavily on the internet and smaller, in many cases temporary, stores could possibly survive in the new retail landscape but I have my doubts.
 

Sheltie

Fratty and out of touch.
Where are people going to get their electronics?
They're going to start buying it all online. Older people like us still prefer to go to a store and ask the salesperson questions but younger consumers tend to educate themselves and know ahead of time what they will want at the time of purchase.
 

wwkirk

Divine
They're going to start buying it all online. Older people like us still prefer to go to a store and ask the salesperson questions but younger consumers tend to educate themselves and know ahead of time what they will want at the time of purchase.
That sounds plausible, but why can't Best Buy and Circuit City get in on that?
 

Sheltie

Fratty and out of touch.
When I worked at the Best Buy store I noticed, in addition to having a lot of unused space, they were selling a lot of items that would not be considered traditional consumer electronics. Electric tooth brushes, coffee makers, mops, brooms... it's like they're trying desperately to do anything they can to fill all the open space. Many of the stores have even started partitioning off the showrooms and renting out the space to other retailers, like Starbucks.

The problem is that much of Best Buy's old product line has permanently migrated to the internet. Very few people go to the store to buy DVD's, video games, or CD's. Most people prefer to download media products.

Best Buy was a big success in the 1980's and 1990's during their rapid growth period because their only real competition came from Circuit City and the smaller regional players like Luskin's and Nobody Beats the Wiz. Their massive well-stocked super stores ate the competition alive whenever they entered a new market.

The super store era may already be over, however. If a competitor like the new Circuit City can create small, nimble stores that offer pickup and return locations with knowledgeable sales associates, Best Buy could be in a lot of trouble.
 

Rikki

High Priestess
My store "Windsor's" may not reopen. It depends on sales. (they were good until things got shut down.)
 

Sheltie

Fratty and out of touch.
Coronavirus is killing the last retail businesses that were left standing. Because of the lockdown people are forced to buy things online. While brick & mortar shops are closed and falling deeper into debit, online web sites are selling like crazy.

[RESEARCH] Social Distancing Economy 2020: What & How Consumers Buy in a New Normal | Criteo
Back when I worked at Amazon, employees were given periodic stock awards. I still have the 9 shares I received. when I got them they were worth around $400 each. Now they're worth about $2200 each. I wish I had bought a whole bunch of Amazon stock when it was cheap!
 

Sheltie

Fratty and out of touch.
My store "Windsor's" may not reopen. It depends on sales. (they were good until things got shut down.)
I'm sorry to hear this, Rikki. Losing a business can be almost as difficult as losing a child. I have a lot of friends who own small businesses who may not be able to come back.

If the recovery is robust enough, we may see a lot of small businesses come back with a vengeance.
 

Dejan Corovic

As above, so bellow
My store "Windsor's" may not reopen. It depends on sales. (they were good until things got shut down.)

@Rikki I had difficulties with my business about 8 years ago and I know how you feel.

But you should not be afraid to look at starting online business. Maybe you can serve local community with home deliveries and by working from home and using your garage as warehouse. Online business is not much different to brick & mortar and one can learn quickly. Instead of paying rent to landlord you are paying for advertising to Google and Facebook.These are two main sales channels. Most people without any technical skills knock out online shop, with all the bells and whistles, using Shopify in one day.

Use lockdown to watch YT videos about SEO, AdWords and Facebook advertising. All of these videos are actually sales pitches for business courses, but you understand business and you can filter out marketing speak from reality using your experience.

As they say "If you can't win them, join them"
 
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Rikki

High Priestess
@Rikki I had difficulties with my business about 8 years ago and I know how you feel.

But you should not be afraid to look at starting online business. Maybe you can serve local community with home deliveries and by working from home and using your garage as warehouse. Online business is not much different to brick & mortar and one can learn quickly. Instead of paying rent to landlord you are paying for advertising to Google and Facebook.These are two main sales channels. Most people without any technical skills knock out online shop, with all the bells and whistles, using Shopify in one day.

Use lockdown to watch YT videos about SEO, AdWords and Facebook advertising. All of these videos are actually sales pitches for business courses, but you understand business and you can filter out marketing speak from reality using your experience.

As they say "If you can't win them, join them"
Thanks! My husband and the company he works for is building a website for my shop. we should be on line by the 3rd.
I'm looking forward to some robust online sales!
Blessed be
Rikki
 

Toroid

Founding Member
JCPenney is reportedly considering filing for bankruptcy and closing hundreds of stores
JCPenney is preparing to file for bankruptcy as early as next week, though no final decision has been made, Reuters reported Friday, citing people familiar with the matter.

According to Reuters, about a quarter of the chain's roughly 850 stores could permanently close.

A representative for JCPenney declined to comment to Business Insider.

The department store has nearly $4 billion in debt. It missed a debt payment on April 15 but has a 30-day grace period that ends next Friday.
 
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