Retailing Chains Caught In Wave Of Bankruptcies

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.

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.

Read the whole story here.

Comments

[DC8P4DCEFE]

Karmic retribution comes back in myriad ways.

Keep up the naked acts of invasion and aggression against other countries and you Americans will truly be fucked.

Suggest you wake up to your moral compass before its too late.

Oh, and I am not a god damn Christian..............but believe in the Law of Cause and Effect.

Japan paid dearly for their militarism.........the Soviiet Union, and Germany did also.

America is nothing special and is not IMMUNE either.

[ceasenake]

The foot locker is closing stores down in Kansas because the US is militaristic?

[WIpatriot]

Oh, don't think we won't get ours.

[Opinionater]

Republichens Happy you voted for Bush, now?

[blooddoc]

It sounds like most economic experts are saying (hoping?) that this is just another "down" period in a normal business cycle, perhaps leading to a typical recession lasting a few months. I worry that things are really different this time, in that gas prices are NOT going to come down anytime soon, housing prices will continue to fall after years of crazy inflation, the dollar will remain stagnant or fall further, and our military misadventures will drag us down further in the eyes of the world. Economists insist that another Great Depression is just not possible, but I'm not sure I believe them. In any event, the next president will inherit one hell of a mess - it's enough to make you ask why they want the job.

[WIpatriot]

Well, geez, doc, you make it sound like such a lousy job that our childrens won't want to grow up to become preznit.

[rollingdivision]

Failure is a normal, necessary and beneficial occurrence in a market economy. Every day thousands of businesses in the USA fail. And though bad for the particular businesses this is good for the overall economy eliminating businesses which do not please their customers and shifting those customers to businesses which are better run. We should be pleased that the US economy forces bad businesses to fail.

[JoeBlough]

rollingdivision-

That's old school thinking. The NEW THINK is that the government will bail out all losers and everthing will be perfect.

[JacobSinger]

Pray tell, why not run along to a rightwing site where Friedmanite idiocy is appreciated?

[MajorKong]

Shorter rollingdivision - It's good when thousands of people lose their jobs.

[SouthHouse]

I disagree. Failure is normal, necessary, and beneficial only for those entities who occupy and run the TOP of a market economy. The failures we are seeing now are byproducts of the economic and social Darwinism the power elite practice periodically to cull from the herd those self-made people who actually believe their first generation wealth is based on real assets and is on the same level with Brahmin old money.

The wealth they are losing will now be acquired by the power elite at bargain basement prices-- while those squarely in the middle of the middle class, and below, will sink deeper into serfdom. That is why, IMHO, the richest people in America before the Great Depression began were still the richest people in America after it ended. And that is why practically nothing is being done to avert the next great depression--- which, from the increasing signs, is beginning to appear inevitable.

[WorkingClass]

"Failure is a normal, necessary and beneficial occurrence in a market economy". The news is better than you think. The whole entire *market economy* is coming down on your head. It will be the grandest failure you ever saw.

[MajorKong]

Great! Now if I get laid off I won't even be able to go work retail for $8/hr.

[WIpatriot]

That's right, MK. The military is shorthanded....

[MajorKong]

I retired after 21 years in the military. I'm not sure they'd take me back at this point.

[WIpatriot]

Think contractor, Major...big bucks.

[tumblewind]

Why don't all of you run down and vote another Republican in office in 08?????? This happens when the Republican's get in office. Because they know literally nothing about managing money. The economy always goes in the toilet because the 'Spend and Deficit' Republican's always drive the deficit into the stratosphere. Their tax cuts for the rich always help it go up. While people keep voting Republican to keep taxes low. They always expect something for nothing! If I ran my household the way the Republican's run a country I would be homeless!

[WIpatriot]

Oh no, they manage it quite well, into their own pockets.

[Sundialsvc4]

Isn't it absurd to think ... hasn't it always been absurd to think ... that a nation of 300 million people could be a "consumer nation?" What exactly are we going to do when we can no longer buy underwear and socks?

Most of us remember that, as children, we lived in a nation full of thriving factories. "Made in Japan" was a butt of jokes. It is therefore entirely within our own generation that we've replaced "We Sell The Best!" with a paltry (and as it turns out, quite un-sustainable) "We Sell (Crap) For Less (But You'll Buy It Anyway Because The Only Job In Town Is Here)."

That's not how I want my ... our ... generation to be remembered.

I also don't want to be a part of a generation that watched war-crimes being committed by our own government and "we did nothing about it." Why not, ladies and gentlemen, why did we not?

There are firebrands in our history books ... "Forbid it, Almighty God!" ... and they risked their "lives and sacred honor" to give us, what? What we do not value? What we do not treasure?

Is this the best that we can do? No. Forbid it, Almighty God. And get to work to stop it, American People. The power of impeachment is in your hands as it always has been. Use it. Use it now.

[WIpatriot]

Oops, fell off the table again....

[glaze]

All this: the business failures, the mortgage crisis, rising prices on everything, the internal bitterness, clear evidence of corruption and ineptitude at the (highest) levels with no end in sight and little action taken, the severe decline of the nation's reputation in the world, etc., etc.,...
and we get this:
"The war has little or no effect on the economy."
and this:
"SO?"

[WorkingClass]

Americans grumbled but basically went along with crimes against humanity and the constitution. Now that their financial well being is threatened they will be like an angry swarm. Awake at last, but alas, too late.

[Trittydi]

This won't bother the re-PIG-lics because they want to see middle-America destroyed -- but it might bother some of the DLC democrats. I won't hold my breath though.
*

[SonofLiberty1]

This is pretty scary, I think we are really in for it this time:(

[Trittydi]

Bush's favorite Wet-Dream -- America is falling apart.
*

[kellygrrrrl]

Follow the chain of ownership for any retail chain and you always end up at the doorstep of a neocon. Progressives should shut down any and all chains, why would any business need more than one location? Why should neocons control the products consumers need? Any chain with more than one physical location needs to be seized and the property given to an inner city family that has been struggling to get out from neocon schemes and degradations.

[JoeBlough]

kellygrrrrl -

Just what is the point of your message. It's just words without meaning.

[kellygrrrl]

good morning little NAME-TROLL

sleep well?

[KBAR]

Spoken like a true Marxist!

[shengirl]

I was just in Linens N' Things yesterday, the first time in nearly a year I'd been there. I was pretty turned off, their merchandise seemed to have gone more and more high end [they used to have a selection, from moderate to high end-- no more]. Very expensive sets, sheets, towels, etc. Almost nothing of even moderate price. Like we all need big-name designer linens at 3x the price. I was thinking then, their sales are going to be dropping like a rock, not that many people these days will [or can] pay those prices for bedding. Sears? I haven't been to one in years, the merchandise was not that distinctive and for what you get, is over priced. K-Mart is a disaster, the store nearest me is old, dirty, the glass is always full of fingerprints, the carpet is held together in spots with duck tape, the shelves are poorly stocked and there always seem to be boxes sitting in the aisles, waiting for someone to put the stuff out. I have stopped going there, period. You can't tout your shiny new merger and all the great plans you have, and then do nothing. Consumers aren't fools.

[ramal]

Evidently they were able to sell enough linens, but not enough "things." Who knew? I thought all Americans loved "things."

[WIpatriot]

Shiny things....oooooh.

[Trittydi]

They do. They just can't afford them anymore.
*

[vippy]

China lost 300 billion on this housing market long before it took down Bear Stearnes. And what does McCain know, he owns 8 homes! Imagine that, he can only live in one. Tell me, how a guy like that
can connect with the middle class? Are we bitter, NO, we are MAD AS HELL!!!!

[Trittydi]

We're mad as hell all right - but some of us are also, completely, "bitter." The defeat-o-crats are largely responsible for this for taking impeachment "off the table." Do you think Pelosi's grandkids have to worry about losing their home or having enough food to eat? I doubt it.
*

[WIpatriot]

Two words: Black Mail.

[adamsmith]

Then be mad at politicians like Barry Obama, who forced lenders to make bad loans to minorities and people with just plain bad credit to create this housing mess. Banking institutions are in business to make money, and bad policy to buy votes will do this everytime. Government is the ultimate example of "Murphy's Law"....The intentions are good, but the results are disastrous. Both parties kissing Saudi ass is the second part of what's going wrong. The economy follows the laws of physics as in "water finds its own level". The invisible hand works. Show me one person in Congress or in upper government who is middle class. That observation holds no water from that statement alone. Populism has always failed. Look at Pat Buchanan........Wealth envy is an ugly thing. Maybe by the time you're 72, worked hard and even married well you can have 8 houses too. This still is America, and why immigrants come here. They get a crack at fairmess.

[WIpatriot]

Let's start with ... who the hell is Barry Obama?

I know Adam Smith, and you, sir, are no Adam Smith.

[ImmanuelGoldstein]

How the hell did Obama force banks to make bad loan? How is he powerful enought to force the entire banking system to jump into the subprime pool. You aren't making a lick of sense.

[wiseapple]

When consumers can't afford to buy things one has to assume that the economic path travelled to get to this point is flawed. Ironically, we have been to this place before at the end of the 1920's.
I disagree with your statement that "Government is the ultimate example of Murphy's Law... The intentions are good but the results are disasterous". It was the government programs of FDR that put people back to work and got our economy back on track through regulation. Enough so that we, as a nation, were able to meet the demands placed on us by WWII. From there, grew the greatness of America. The middle class grew, a growing number of children were able to attend college. People bought houses, built interstates and started new businesses.
These gains have slowly been dismantled since the Reagan years to the point where we find ourselves now.
We have to realize that unadultrated capitalism, communism or socialism have flaws. We advance only when we balance the 3 in a symbiotic way. The constant efforts to stamp out the governmental concerns (social, environmental) to appease the business concerns (markets, money) will eventually bring a very expensive lesson to us all.

[MajorKong]

"worked hard"?

John McCain has been in the government for most of his adult life. I don't think he's ever worked a regular job. If he was a Democrat you'd all be screaming about him being an "Out of touch Washington insider".

[WorkingClass]

The invisible hand is a false god. The true god is the flying spaghetti monster. I know. I was touched by His noodly appendage.