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Retail Stores Closing Doors
Announcements continue to roll in from retailers that have decided to close stores, slow expansion plans or cease operations altogether.
From Christopher & Banks to the ESPN Zone, we update our ongoing roundup with the latest news from 2010. Read on to see which retailers are closing (at least some) of their doors.
Are any of these your favorites?
ESPN ZONE
Announced: June 16, 2010
Walt Disney Co. closed its ESPN Zone restaurants in New York; Baltimore; Washington, DC; Las Vegas; and Chicago. With about 150 employees per ESPN Zone location, the closures leave approximately 1,000 workers jobless. Additionally, approximately 200,000 square feet in retail space is about to hit the market, according to CoStar information. Disney blamed the poor economy for the closures.
MOVADO
Announced: May 28, 2010
The Chicago Tribune reports that Movado Group Inc., the Swiss watchmaker and Jєωeler, plans to close its money-losing retail division by the end of June in a move to turn around the company. It will close all 27 U.S. stores. The company said it doesn't intend to run any store closing or liquidation sales, a move to protect its brand name.
DOLLAR STORE
Announced: May 8, 2010
A 37-store network of Dollar Store outlets in Washington and Oregon announced they will be closing, just weeks after the parent company filed for bankruptcy in late March.
KENNETH COLE
Announced: May 5, 2010
In its May 5th earnings call, Kenneth Cole CFO David Edelman noted that it closed three stores since the beginning of the year and expects to close a total of five to 10 stores by year-end.
MOVIE GALLERY / HOLLYWOOD VIDEO / GAME CRAZY
Announced: April 30, 2010
During a company-wide conference call on April 30, it was announced that all U.S. Hollywood Video, Movie Gallery, and Game Crazy stores would begin the liquidation process in May 2010. Stores will stay open for up to six weeks after liquidation begins. The fate of the company's Canadian stores was sealed on June 8, 2010, as they also entered liquidation. This is an update from Movie Gallery's February bankruptcy announcement where it originally said they were not going out of business.
FUDDRUCKERS
Announced: April 26, 2010
Magic Brands, owner of Fuddruckers, said it will use a Chapter 11 bankruptcy “to terminate certain Fuddruckers leases and will close 24 corporate-owned Fuddruckers restaurants by April 30, 2010."
CHRISTOPHER & BANKS
Announced: April 15, 2010
Christopher & Banks Corporation is a Minneapolis-based specialty retailer of women’s clothing. As of April 15, 2010, the Company operates 799 stores in 46 states. The company currently plans to open approximately 10 new stores and close 25 existing stores in fiscal 2011.
KROGER LITTLE CLINICS
Announced: April 8, 2010
The Kroger Co. is closing 20 in-store medical clinics operated by The Little Clinic chain, and plans to revamp the business model for the convenient care chain in which it made an $86 million investment in 2008.
CHARMING SHOPPES
Announced: March 30, 2010
Charming Shoppes, Inc., the plus-size specialty retailer with up to 2,121 stores nationwide -- including Lane Bryant, Fashion Bug, and Catherines chains -- announced plans that it would close 100 to 120 of its branches in fiscal 2010.
SWOOZIES
Announced: March 30, 2010
The Atlanta-based retailer of greeting cards and gifts is closing all 43 stores. In March, Hilco purchased the company's retail and other assets in a bankruptcy court-approved auction for $7.4 million. Everything in the stores, according to bankruptcy court filings posted Tuesday, will be liquidated.
SUPERVALU SHEDS BIGG'S
Announced: March 29, 2010
According to CoStar Retail Group, SuperValu is divesting itself of the bigg's grocery store line, closing five underperforming locations and selling the rest to Remke Markets. The supermarket owner said in a statement that it would close four stores in a Ohio and one in Kentucky. Remke is set to acquire the remaining six bigg's stores. The divestiture is SuperValu's second in 2010. The company recently announced the sale of its Shaw's locations in Connecticut.
HIBBETT SPORTS
Announced: March 15, 2010
A leading sporting goods company in the U.S., the company said it anticipates opening 30 new stores during fiscal 2011, expanding 20 high performing stores and closing about 10-15 underperforming stores.
CRICKET WIRELESS
Announced: March 2010
According to a San Diego Business Journal report, Leap Wireless cut 180 jobs and shuttered 27 Cricket stores nationwide. The flat-rate carrier said the restructuring reflects its changing priorities for the year. Leap spokesman Greg Lund told FierceWireless that 90 of the job cuts were corporate positions and 90 were "field positions." Leap has around 4,200 total corporate employees and now has 242 company-owned stores.
84 LUMBER
Announced: March 15, 2010
84 Lumber, the industry’s largest privately held chain of lumberyards, closed 10 stores in 10 states on March 15 due to declining housing starts. The Eighty Four, Pa.-based company now operates 289 stores in 34 states, with 2009 revenues of $1.35 billion. In 2008, the company posted sales of $2.1 billion with 335 locations.
STORE CLOSINGS FROM OUR PREVIOUS ROUNDUP
ANN TAYLOR
Announced: March 12, 2010
In a March 2010 press release, Ann Taylor updated expectations related to the store closure component of its strategic restructuring program. Under the program, the Company closed 60 stores in fiscal 2008, 42 stores in fiscal 2009, and expects to close approximately 72 stores in fiscal 2010, for a total of approximately 174 store closures under the 3-year program. Of these, approximately half are expected to be Ann Taylor stores and half are expected to be LOFT stores.
BLOCKBUSTER
Announced: February 24, 2010
For the full year of 2010, Blockbuster expects to close a range of 500 to 545 underperforming domestic company-owned stores. Of these, Blockbuster has already closed 253 stores in January 2010 and has identified approximately 150 other stores that are expected to be closed in April 2010. The Company then expects to close approximately 75 to 125 more stores throughout the remaining portion of 2010
JONES APPAREL
Announced: February 10, 2010
Jones Apparel plans on closing 165 of its specialty retail stores in 2010. While the company declined to say which of its stores would be closed, they indicated that the mall-based retail locations would be closed to allow increased focus on their outlet stores. In 2009, Jones Apparel closed 100 mall-based retail stores which has produced positive results for the parent company of Nine West, Anne Klein, Bandolino and Easy Spirit.
WALDENBOOKS
Announced: January 18, 2010
In a January press release about disappointing holiday sales, Borders Group, Inc. reiterated its decision to close 182 Waldenbooks Specialty Retail stores. According to CoStar's Retail News Roundup, Borders has been "whittling down its Waldenbooks chain since 2001, closing an average of 66 stores per year through 2007. In 2008, 112 stores were closed."
FOOT LOCKER
Announced: March 3, 2010
In 2010, Foot Locker plans to consolidate its Foot Locker, Lady Foot Locker, Kid Foot Locker and Footaction operations under one management structure. As part of this initiative, it closed 106 underproductive stores during the first quarter and eliminated 120 corporate positions. The company also closed 179 stores in 2009.
MOVIE GALLERY
Announced: February 2, 2010
Movie Gallery filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in February. While not going out of business, the restructuring called for the immediate liquidation and closure of approximately 760 stores. After these initial closings, the company operates 1,906 stores in the U.S., including 1,111 Movie Gallery, 545 Hollywood Video and 250 Game Crazy locations. The company anticipates additional store closings during the Chapter 11 process.
JO-ANN STORES
Announced: March, 10 2010
The company expects to open approximately 30 new stores and close approximately 30 stores in fiscal 2011.
HOME DEPOT
Announced: January 26, 2010
Due to the recession and lingering housing crisis, Home Depot announced it would lay off 1,000 employees company-wide. In addition, it decided to close three pilot stores: a clearance center in Austell, Ga., a hurricane recovery store in Waveland, Miss. and a small-format store in Wilson, N.C. The company said there were no plans to close any of the chain's flagship "orange box" stores. It remains the largest home improvement store in the U.S. with 1,976 stores.
THE WALKING COMPANY
Announced: February 2, 2010
The Walking Company filed a reorganization plan under which the company intends to keep 207 of its 214 current store locations open. This was a turnaround from its original plan, announced in Dec. 2009, to close 90 of its underperforming locations.
CRABTREE & EVELYN
Announced: January 14, 2010
The skin-care products company filed for bankruptcy in July 2009. But, according to the BNET Retail Blog, Crabtree & Evelyn will actually emerge from the bankruptcy -- something that is unusual in the retail arena. In the end, the company will only need to close 35 of its 126 stores.
ALBERTSONS
Announced: January 25, 2010
Boise, ID-based Albertsons LLC is in the process of closing 11 underperforming stores. Specifically, the grocery retailer is closing eight stores in Florida, as well as three stores in Colorado. This latest round of closures will leave Albertsons with 22 stores in Colorado and 20 in Florida; as well as more than 180 stores in Arizona, Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, and Texas. (Note: Albertsons LLC is not affiliated with Supervalu, which operates 463 Albertsons stores.) (Source: CoStar Retail News Roundup)
SAM'S CLUB
Announced: January 11, 2010
In January, Bloomberg reported that Wal-Mart Store's Inc. said it was closing 10 "financially underperforming" Sam's Club locations in the U.S. However, the company also said it has plans to add six more stores this year. Wal-Mart operated 605 Sam's Club stores as of Oct. 31, 2009.
DISNEY STORE
Announced: February 8, 2010
Disney is in the process of liquidating and shuttering 24 U.S. and 3 Canada Disney Store locations. As of October 2009, there were 340 total locations. The closures are part of an effort to revamp its existing stores to be interactive and more in keeping with the "Magic Kingdom" theme park feel. (Source: CoStar Retail News Roundup)
FRENCH CONNECTION
Announced: March 15, 2010
The fashion retailer announced that it will close the majority of underperforming stores in the U.S. and sell its Nicole Farhi business as part of a restructuring plan. The total of U.S. stores to be shuttered is numbered at 17, but F.C.U.K. has not released the specific location of those stores.
MEN'S WEARHOUSE
Announced: March 10, 2010
In its 4Q 2009 conference call, the company announced that due to geographic overlap caused by its 2006 acquisition of the AfterHours Formalwear chain, the company has identified 145 stores that it would likely close.
AMERICAN EAGLE'S MARTIN +OSA
Announced: March 9, 2010
Specialty apparel retailer, American Eagle Outfitters is shuttering its MARTIN + OSA brand, including its 28 stores and online business. The company expects to conclude the liquidation of the MARTIN + OSA stores by the end of this July. The company opened the first MARTIN + OSA stores, which carried sportswear and casual apparel for men and women age 25 to 40, in fall 2006.
WILLIAMS SONOMA
Announced: March 11, 2010
Williams Sonoma CFO Sharon McCollam said that the specialty retailer intends to shutter an undisclosed number of stores in large, multi-store markets during the next three years.
MACY'S
Announced: January 5, 2010
Macy's said it is closing five stores as part of its ongoing effort to weed out underperforming locations amid opening new ones. Following these store closures, Macy's will operate 849 stores, comprised of 809 Macy's and 40 Bloomingdale's stores.
TRANS WORLD ENTERTAINMENT (F.Y.E.)
Announced: January 7, 2010
Trans World Entertainment Corp. continues to whittle down its store fleet. By the end of January, it planned to have closed 161 stores during the prior 12 months. This follows 101 store closures in fiscal 2008. Following this latest closure effort, Trans World would be left with 553 stores. Trans World hit a peak store count of 1,091 in 2006, following its acquisition of Musicland. The majority of Trans World's stores are F.Y.E., but its portfolio also includes Saturday Matinee, Coconuts, Spec's and Wherehouse Music. According to CoStar Tenant, the typical F.Y.E. store is 3,000 square feet and located in an enclosed mall. (Source: CoStar Retail News Roundup)
Topic: Retail stores closing their doors (Read 1187 times)