Following the news of major store closing by fellow retailers Sears, Kmart, and Macy’s, the retail carnage continues with The Limited. After weeks of having liquidation and store-closing sales without admitting its demise, the retailer has finally confirmed it will shutter all of its remaining physical stores on Sunday, Jan. 8, and exist henceforth as an online-only merchant. [More]
store closings
Sears Holdings Announces Another Round Of Kmart And Sears Closings
There are two related pieces of news out of Sears Holdings this week. First, the company is closing another round of Kmart and Sears stores across the country. Second, it’s set to borrow at least another $200 million from its manifesto-writing CEO. [More]
At Least 24 More Kmart Stores To Close By End Of 2016
At the end of last week, employees at Kmart stores across the country received bad but not entirely unexpected news: their stores are closing by the end of 2016, and they will lose their jobs. We can confirm that dozens of locations in 11 states plan to close on or before Dec. 11, and will most likely add more locations to this list later today or later this week. [More]
Report: Sears Would Need To Close Nearly Half Its Stores To Succeed
While last week’s announced closings of 78 Sears Holdings stores made headlines, the company has been quietly culling retail locations for years. But a new analysis of the department store sector concludes that Sears and other mall mainstays are far from finished with eliminating stores. [More]
Sears Holdings Will Close Additional 68 Kmart Stores, 10 Sears Stores
In their recent rounds of store closings, Sears Holdings tried something new: they announced them to the stores’ local news outlets, but didn’t release a nationwide list of stores slated to close. We started compiling our own list based on local news stories and reader tips at the beginning of this year. Late Thursday, Sears Holdings announced an additional 78 store closings, and saved us some work by putting out a national list. Scheduled to close in this round are 65 Kmarts, 3 Super K stores, and ten Sears stores. [More]
All Hancock Fabrics Stores Will Liquidate, Close
Back in February, the long-troubled craft store chain Hancock Fabrics filed for bankruptcy for the second time in a decade. This time, there will be no reorganization. The chain planned to close 70 stores and tried to find a buyer for the remaining 185 that would keep the open and preserve thousands of jobs across the country. The winning bidder in yesterday’s auction in bankruptcy court was Great American Group, a liquidator. [More]
Yes, There Are Still Blockbuster Video Stores, Just Fewer Of Them After This Weekend
The elder ones among us may remember a time when you had to leave the house to see a movie, even if you were going to rent it at Blockbuster Video and watch it on your tiny 48″ TV. While the merciless VHS blight of 2013 killed off most of the remaining Blockbuster stores, a hearty handful remained, wandering the strip malls of America in search of sustenance. That’s why we’re sad to report that the Netflix diaspora now has four fewer among its ranks. [More]
Sears Holdings Plans At Least 4 More Kmart Store Closures In May
After a tough year of losing half a billion dollars less than they did in 2014, Sears Holdings, parent company of Sears and Kmart, announced plans to close about 50 stores in the coming months. What the company no longer does is send out big announcements with lists of stores slated for closure, instead submitting local closings to local news outlets. That’s cool, but we’re a national news outlet that likes to pay attention to national trends, so we compiled a list for anyone who is interested. [More]
Sears Holdings To Accelerate, Expand Planned Store Closings
The only bit of good news in the most recent financial report from Sears Holdings, parent company of Sears and Kmart, is that the sibling stores had better sales during the holiday season than last year, and not just because they kicked off Christmas in mid-September. Unfortunately, the news isn’t very good other than that: the company is still losing money in its retail business, and plans to speed up its planned store closings. [More]
Walmart Closing 154 Stores In U.S., Ending “Walmart Express” Experiment
Walmart’s five-year dalliance with trying to go small through new “Walmart Express” stores is apparently over. This morning, the company announced that it will shutter 154 locations in the U.S., including all 102 Express locations, in an effort to focus on its larger outlets. [More]
If Kmart And Sears Stores Close Without A National Press Release, Does Anyone Notice?
Last week, department store chain Macy’s announced its holiday season results and its plans to close 40 stores in the coming months. Shoe retailer Finish Line announced plans to close 150 stores by the year 2020. Yet what you never hear about in the national news anymore is how many stores Sears Holdings, corporate parent of Sears and Kmart, is planning to close, even as they continue to shut down underperforming stores. [More]
Finish Line Will Close 150 Stores Over The Next Four Years
Finish Line, a mall retailer that sells athletic clothes and sneakers, has had a rough year. Specifically, they’ve had supply chain and order management issues that began in the fall and lost them an estimated $32 million in sales. Today, the company announced that they’ll be closing as many as 150 stores over the next four years, almost a quarter of the chain. [More]
Office Depot Plans To Close 400 Stores By The End Of 2016
Office Depot and Staples are the country’s two largest remaining big-box office supplies chains, and earlier this year, Staples proposed to to acquire Office Depot. While the two companies wait for the Federal Trade Commission to bless the marriage or call off the engagement, Office Depot has announced plans to speed up its store closings, with a goal of shuttering 400 stores by the end of 2016. [More]
Starbucks Closing All Standalone La Boulange Bakery Cafés By Fall
Back in 2012, Starbucks bought a San Francisco-based bakery chain, La Boulange, to help class up its offerings in the pastry case. While Starbucks will keep the brand for the pastries served in Starbucks cafés, the company has decided to close the 23 standalone La Boulange locactions that have stayed in business since the acquisition. [More]
Gap To Close 21% Of Its U.S. Stores By January
The mid-priced clothing business simply isn’t what it used to be. Today, Gap Inc. announced that it will be closing 175 of its Gap stores in the next few years, and 140 of them will close during this fiscal year, which ends in January. However, it’s just regular Gap stores that are closing: the company’s upmarket Banana Republic brand and downmarket Old Navy brand are doing fine, as are Gap outlets and factory stores. [More]