Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Surviving The Economic Crisis
During the 1980’s Americans began to see a trend of jobs being outsourced to other countries. Most of the Steel mills were shut down in small towns; the automobile industry sent a large portion of their plants to Mexico. From the 1990’s going forward hundreds of thousands of manufacturing job were outsourced and the unemployment rate being to soar. Even the customer service jobs are outsourced.
What has happened to America and the American Dream?
When did the downward trend of our economy really begin? Are trade agreements such as NAFT one of the contributing factors? This agreement consist of the US, Canada and Mexico. There was great concern from labor unions about the movement of American industries to Mexico to take advantage of low wages. That trend did occur, particularly in the textile industry.
Has import/export been a contributing fact to our economy?
Importing and Exporting are principal activities in international trade; however, there must be a balance of trade. A nation’s balance of trade is the total value of its exports minus the total value of its imports. For example, The US had large trade deficits, in 1999, the total exports were $1.033 trillion and the deficit was $322 billion. Also foreign competitors have penetrated the US with products such as textiles, motorcycles, dolls, toys, TV’s, luggage and automobiles In 2002 US merchandise exports to china were $16.3 billion and U.S imports from China were $100.1 billion. . American imports are plagued with extensive restrictions and excessive delays.
The question becomes how we can afford to buy the goods that are imported back to the US when we have no job. Statistics speak for themselves; The amount of job losses have been astronomical, and with little or no source of income we cannot afford to buy goods and products from retailers and their only alternative is to go out of business as indicated below:
Advance America Cash Advance Centers- Announced: April 29, 2009
The Company expects to close approximately 130 additional centers,
Advanced Auto Parts
The company expects to sell off 40 to 55 unprofitable stores this year.
Ann Taylor- Announced: March 6, 2009
Retailer Ann Taylor said it expects to close a total of 163 stores by the end of fiscal 2010.
American Greetings- Announced: Jan. 22, 2009
Closing 60 stores nationwide.
Bassett Furniture- Announced: Feb. 12, 2009
The furniture store announced it plans to close another eight to ten licensed stores in 2009.
Bealls- Announced: Feb. 19, 2009
Closing 12 outlet stores out of over 500 total stores.
Better Bedding Shops Inc.
Filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and closed 11 of its 21 stores in Connecticut and Massachusetts.
Blockbuster Video- Announced: September 15, 2009
May shut down up to 20% of their stores before 2011. The move would mean closing between 810 and 960 of its 4,356 U.S. stores.
Boater's World- Announced: February & April 2009
It will close 129 Boater’s World stores in 27 states and liquidate its inventory.
Bruno's- Announced: Feb. 18, 2009
The grocery store chain in Alabama and the Florida Panhandle is closing four Bruno's stores and six Food World stores.
Bulgari- Announced: August 28, 2009
The Italian jeweler closed stores in Palm Beach and Aspen, as well as its New York Madison Avenue store.
Canadian Sam's Club Stores- Announced: Feb. 26, 2009
Bloomberg reports that Wal-Mart is going to close all six of its Sam's Club stores in Canada. 1,200 jobs will be cut as a result.
Chico's- Announced: Jan. 29, 2009
Chico's said it is eliminating 180 positions and may close up to 25 stores.
Chrysler- Announced: May 14, 2009
Chrysler plans to shut 1 in 4 of its U.S. dealers. In all, nearly 800 dealers selling various Chrysler brands were given notice in May that they would be cut off in June.
Circuit City- Announced: Jan. 16, 2009
Circuit City, reached an agreement with liquidators Jan. 16 to sell the merchandise in its remaining stores. Claire's- Announced: Feb. 15, 2009
Costco Home Stores- Announced: April 2, 2009
Costco that it would close its two furnishing stores store in July.
Crabtree & Evelyn- Announced: July 1, 2009
Filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The 126-store chain plans to close underperforming stores in the coming months.
Filene's Basement- Announced: Jan. 21, 2009 and May 4, 2009
Filenes would close 11 of its 36 stores. In May, the company that owns the remaining 25 stores filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Fortunoff -Announced: Feb. 4, 2009
Fortunoff Fine Jewelry & Silverware closed the doors at its 57th Street and Fifth Avenue flagship location, Feb. 4.
Gap, Inc.- Announced: Feb. 26, 2009
Plans to close about 100 stores.
General Motors Announced: May 2009
GM announced in May that they would not be renewing contracts with over a thousand car dealerships.
Goody's Family Clothing- Announced: Jan. 14, 2009
Tennessee-based Goody's, which just emerged from bankruptcy protection in October, announced Jan. 14 that it was again filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The company also said that it would liquidate its remaining 282 stores.
Gottschalks- Announced: March 31, 2009
Retailer Gottschalks announced Jan. 14 that it had put itself up for sale and filed to reorganize in a Chapter 11 bankruptcy. But as of the end of March, it had not found a buyer and announced it will liquidate its 58 department stores and three specialty clothing stores in California, Washington, Alaska, Oregon, Nevada and Idaho.
Home Depot's Expo Design Centers- Announced: Jan. 26, 2009
Home Depot announced Jan. 26 it plans to close all 34 of its Expo Design Centers.
Iridesse - Announced: March 11, 2009
Luxury jeweler Tiffany & Co. said it plans to close its unprofitable Iridesse pearl jewelry chain, partly because of a tough economy.
J. Jill- Announced: June 8, 2009
Talbots sale of J.Jill will result in 75 closures.
Jimmy'z- Announced: Feb. 23, 2009
Aeropostale Inc. is closing its 11 Jimmy'Z concept stores, reports the 'Wall Street Journal.'
Jones Apparel- Announced: April 29, 2009
Jones Apparel Group Inc. plans to shut 225 single-branded underperforming stores, or about 20% of its store base, over the next two years.
Kira Plastinina- Announced: Jan. 12, 2009
Kira Plastinina will close all 12 U.S. stores.
Macy's- Announced: Jan. 8, 2009
Macy's will close 11 stores.
New York and Company- Announced: Jan. 8, 2009
New York & Co. said today it will cut 310 mostly managerial positions and close up to 50 stores over the next five years.
Oneida- Announced: Jan. 8, 2009
Oneida Ltd., the flatware and dinnerware manufacturer based in Oneida, said it will close its 20 outlet stores in North America.
PacSun- Announced: August 20, 2009
It expects it will close a total of 40 stores during 2009.
Payless ShoeSource- Announced: September 3, 2009
During fiscal year 2009, the company expects to close another 143 Payless stores.
Phillips-Van Heusen- Announced: Jan. 21, 2009
Phillips-Van Heusen, that it would close 175 stores.
Pier 1 Imports- Announced: March 20, 2009
Peir 1 Imports expects to close no more than 80 stores over the next fiscal year.
Reuters
Reuters says Brown Shoe Co. plans to close 30 to 35 of its Famous Footwear stores this year.
Ruehl Stores- Announced: June 19, 2009
Specialty apparel retailer, Abercrombie & Fitch is discontinuing its Ruehl division. The retailer is closing all of its 29 Ruehl stores by the end of 2009.
Rite Aid –Announced
Rite Aid Corp. plans to close as many as 117 stores over the next year,
Ritz Camera- Announced: April 2, 2009
Ritz Camera will be closing 300 of its nationwide retail locations.
Ruby Tuesday- Announced: Late Dec
Ruby plans to close about 70 corporate-owned locations nationwide over the next several years.
S&K Famous Brands- Announced: March 23, 2009
30 stores in the chain will shut their doors as part of the parent company's Chapter 11 reorganization bankruptcy.
Samsonite- Announced: September 2, 2009
Will close up to 84 of its 173 U.S. stores, which are located across 38 states.
Sears & Kmart- Announced: August 20, 2009
Will close an additional 28 underperforming stores (22 Kmart, 6 Sears) during the second half of this year.
Smith & Hawken- Announced: July 9, 2009
Will close all of its 56 stores, currently located in 22 states and D.C.
Snyders Drug Stores- Announced: Feb. 5, 2009
The chain is closing 19 of 47 company-owned stores.
Sportsman's Warehouse- Announced: March 12, 2009
It would close 23 stores and sell another 15.
Starbucks- Announced: Jan. 28, 2009
Starbucks said that it would close an additional 300 stores.
Supervalu's Cub Foods- Announced: Jan. 14, 2009
Supervalu announced Jan. 14 it will begin closing 50 grocery stores from various chains it owns, including Cub Foods, Albertsons, Shop 'n Save, etc.
Sweetbay Supermarkets- Announced: Feb. 16, 2009
Tampa-based Sweetbay Supermarkets will close ‘7’ grocery stores.
Virgin Megastore- Announced: Jan. 15, 2009
All Virgin Megastores in the U.S. are set to close up shop by summer.
Waldenbooks- Announced: April 1, 2009
Borders Group Inc (plans to close most of its Waldenbooks.
Whole Foods and Wild Oats- Announced: March 6, 2009
Whole Foods is selling 13 of its stores.
World Market- Announced: Jan. 13, 2009
Cost Plus, Inc. plans to close 26 of its World Market stores and exit eight markets.
Yankee Candle- Announced: Jan. 21, 2009
Yankee Candle will close 28 Illuminations retail stores
Z Gallerie- Announced: Feb. 20, 2009
The home decor retailer is closing 25 of its 77 locations.
Zales- Announced: August 6, 2009
The Texas-based jewelery company has shut down 118 locations over the past quarter and 191 so far in 2009.
I can theorize and speculate about the root cause of the sagging economy, but I don’t know for sure. I just hope it takes an upward swing in the near future.
What has happened to America and the American Dream?
When did the downward trend of our economy really begin? Are trade agreements such as NAFT one of the contributing factors? This agreement consist of the US, Canada and Mexico. There was great concern from labor unions about the movement of American industries to Mexico to take advantage of low wages. That trend did occur, particularly in the textile industry.
Has import/export been a contributing fact to our economy?
Importing and Exporting are principal activities in international trade; however, there must be a balance of trade. A nation’s balance of trade is the total value of its exports minus the total value of its imports. For example, The US had large trade deficits, in 1999, the total exports were $1.033 trillion and the deficit was $322 billion. Also foreign competitors have penetrated the US with products such as textiles, motorcycles, dolls, toys, TV’s, luggage and automobiles In 2002 US merchandise exports to china were $16.3 billion and U.S imports from China were $100.1 billion. . American imports are plagued with extensive restrictions and excessive delays.
The question becomes how we can afford to buy the goods that are imported back to the US when we have no job. Statistics speak for themselves; The amount of job losses have been astronomical, and with little or no source of income we cannot afford to buy goods and products from retailers and their only alternative is to go out of business as indicated below:
Advance America Cash Advance Centers- Announced: April 29, 2009
The Company expects to close approximately 130 additional centers,
Advanced Auto Parts
The company expects to sell off 40 to 55 unprofitable stores this year.
Ann Taylor- Announced: March 6, 2009
Retailer Ann Taylor said it expects to close a total of 163 stores by the end of fiscal 2010.
American Greetings- Announced: Jan. 22, 2009
Closing 60 stores nationwide.
Bassett Furniture- Announced: Feb. 12, 2009
The furniture store announced it plans to close another eight to ten licensed stores in 2009.
Bealls- Announced: Feb. 19, 2009
Closing 12 outlet stores out of over 500 total stores.
Better Bedding Shops Inc.
Filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and closed 11 of its 21 stores in Connecticut and Massachusetts.
Blockbuster Video- Announced: September 15, 2009
May shut down up to 20% of their stores before 2011. The move would mean closing between 810 and 960 of its 4,356 U.S. stores.
Boater's World- Announced: February & April 2009
It will close 129 Boater’s World stores in 27 states and liquidate its inventory.
Bruno's- Announced: Feb. 18, 2009
The grocery store chain in Alabama and the Florida Panhandle is closing four Bruno's stores and six Food World stores.
Bulgari- Announced: August 28, 2009
The Italian jeweler closed stores in Palm Beach and Aspen, as well as its New York Madison Avenue store.
Canadian Sam's Club Stores- Announced: Feb. 26, 2009
Bloomberg reports that Wal-Mart is going to close all six of its Sam's Club stores in Canada. 1,200 jobs will be cut as a result.
Chico's- Announced: Jan. 29, 2009
Chico's said it is eliminating 180 positions and may close up to 25 stores.
Chrysler- Announced: May 14, 2009
Chrysler plans to shut 1 in 4 of its U.S. dealers. In all, nearly 800 dealers selling various Chrysler brands were given notice in May that they would be cut off in June.
Circuit City- Announced: Jan. 16, 2009
Circuit City, reached an agreement with liquidators Jan. 16 to sell the merchandise in its remaining stores. Claire's- Announced: Feb. 15, 2009
Costco Home Stores- Announced: April 2, 2009
Costco that it would close its two furnishing stores store in July.
Crabtree & Evelyn- Announced: July 1, 2009
Filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The 126-store chain plans to close underperforming stores in the coming months.
Filene's Basement- Announced: Jan. 21, 2009 and May 4, 2009
Filenes would close 11 of its 36 stores. In May, the company that owns the remaining 25 stores filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy.
Fortunoff -Announced: Feb. 4, 2009
Fortunoff Fine Jewelry & Silverware closed the doors at its 57th Street and Fifth Avenue flagship location, Feb. 4.
Gap, Inc.- Announced: Feb. 26, 2009
Plans to close about 100 stores.
General Motors Announced: May 2009
GM announced in May that they would not be renewing contracts with over a thousand car dealerships.
Goody's Family Clothing- Announced: Jan. 14, 2009
Tennessee-based Goody's, which just emerged from bankruptcy protection in October, announced Jan. 14 that it was again filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The company also said that it would liquidate its remaining 282 stores.
Gottschalks- Announced: March 31, 2009
Retailer Gottschalks announced Jan. 14 that it had put itself up for sale and filed to reorganize in a Chapter 11 bankruptcy. But as of the end of March, it had not found a buyer and announced it will liquidate its 58 department stores and three specialty clothing stores in California, Washington, Alaska, Oregon, Nevada and Idaho.
Home Depot's Expo Design Centers- Announced: Jan. 26, 2009
Home Depot announced Jan. 26 it plans to close all 34 of its Expo Design Centers.
Iridesse - Announced: March 11, 2009
Luxury jeweler Tiffany & Co. said it plans to close its unprofitable Iridesse pearl jewelry chain, partly because of a tough economy.
J. Jill- Announced: June 8, 2009
Talbots sale of J.Jill will result in 75 closures.
Jimmy'z- Announced: Feb. 23, 2009
Aeropostale Inc. is closing its 11 Jimmy'Z concept stores, reports the 'Wall Street Journal.'
Jones Apparel- Announced: April 29, 2009
Jones Apparel Group Inc. plans to shut 225 single-branded underperforming stores, or about 20% of its store base, over the next two years.
Kira Plastinina- Announced: Jan. 12, 2009
Kira Plastinina will close all 12 U.S. stores.
Macy's- Announced: Jan. 8, 2009
Macy's will close 11 stores.
New York and Company- Announced: Jan. 8, 2009
New York & Co. said today it will cut 310 mostly managerial positions and close up to 50 stores over the next five years.
Oneida- Announced: Jan. 8, 2009
Oneida Ltd., the flatware and dinnerware manufacturer based in Oneida, said it will close its 20 outlet stores in North America.
PacSun- Announced: August 20, 2009
It expects it will close a total of 40 stores during 2009.
Payless ShoeSource- Announced: September 3, 2009
During fiscal year 2009, the company expects to close another 143 Payless stores.
Phillips-Van Heusen- Announced: Jan. 21, 2009
Phillips-Van Heusen, that it would close 175 stores.
Pier 1 Imports- Announced: March 20, 2009
Peir 1 Imports expects to close no more than 80 stores over the next fiscal year.
Reuters
Reuters says Brown Shoe Co. plans to close 30 to 35 of its Famous Footwear stores this year.
Ruehl Stores- Announced: June 19, 2009
Specialty apparel retailer, Abercrombie & Fitch is discontinuing its Ruehl division. The retailer is closing all of its 29 Ruehl stores by the end of 2009.
Rite Aid –Announced
Rite Aid Corp. plans to close as many as 117 stores over the next year,
Ritz Camera- Announced: April 2, 2009
Ritz Camera will be closing 300 of its nationwide retail locations.
Ruby Tuesday- Announced: Late Dec
Ruby plans to close about 70 corporate-owned locations nationwide over the next several years.
S&K Famous Brands- Announced: March 23, 2009
30 stores in the chain will shut their doors as part of the parent company's Chapter 11 reorganization bankruptcy.
Samsonite- Announced: September 2, 2009
Will close up to 84 of its 173 U.S. stores, which are located across 38 states.
Sears & Kmart- Announced: August 20, 2009
Will close an additional 28 underperforming stores (22 Kmart, 6 Sears) during the second half of this year.
Smith & Hawken- Announced: July 9, 2009
Will close all of its 56 stores, currently located in 22 states and D.C.
Snyders Drug Stores- Announced: Feb. 5, 2009
The chain is closing 19 of 47 company-owned stores.
Sportsman's Warehouse- Announced: March 12, 2009
It would close 23 stores and sell another 15.
Starbucks- Announced: Jan. 28, 2009
Starbucks said that it would close an additional 300 stores.
Supervalu's Cub Foods- Announced: Jan. 14, 2009
Supervalu announced Jan. 14 it will begin closing 50 grocery stores from various chains it owns, including Cub Foods, Albertsons, Shop 'n Save, etc.
Sweetbay Supermarkets- Announced: Feb. 16, 2009
Tampa-based Sweetbay Supermarkets will close ‘7’ grocery stores.
Virgin Megastore- Announced: Jan. 15, 2009
All Virgin Megastores in the U.S. are set to close up shop by summer.
Waldenbooks- Announced: April 1, 2009
Borders Group Inc (plans to close most of its Waldenbooks.
Whole Foods and Wild Oats- Announced: March 6, 2009
Whole Foods is selling 13 of its stores.
World Market- Announced: Jan. 13, 2009
Cost Plus, Inc. plans to close 26 of its World Market stores and exit eight markets.
Yankee Candle- Announced: Jan. 21, 2009
Yankee Candle will close 28 Illuminations retail stores
Z Gallerie- Announced: Feb. 20, 2009
The home decor retailer is closing 25 of its 77 locations.
Zales- Announced: August 6, 2009
The Texas-based jewelery company has shut down 118 locations over the past quarter and 191 so far in 2009.
I can theorize and speculate about the root cause of the sagging economy, but I don’t know for sure. I just hope it takes an upward swing in the near future.
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