Holiday shopping - buyer beware!

[pelagia]

The students at the marine lab where I work are sending this list around about store closings, with a caution about buying gift cards or items that might need to be returned.  One of them checked it on snopes and says it is at least partially true:

Circuit City (filed Chapter 11)
Ann Taylor- 117 stores nationwide closing
Lane Bryant, Fashion Bug ,and Catherine's to close 150 stores nationwide
Eddie Bauer to close stores 27 stores and more after January
Cache will close all stores
Talbots closing down specialty stores
J. Jill closing all stores (owned by Talbots)
Pacific Sunwear (also owned by Talbots)
GAP closing 85 stores
Footlocker closing 140 stores more to close after January
Wickes Furniture closing down
Levitz closing down remaining stores
Bombay closing remaining stores
Zales closing down 82 stores and 105 after January
Whitehall closing all stores
Piercing Pagoda closing all stores
Disney closing 98 stores and will close more after January.
Home Depot closing 15 stores 1 in NJ ( New Brunswick )
Macys to close 9 stores after January
Linens and Things closing all stores
Movie Galley Closing all stores
Pep Boys Closing 33 stores
Sprint/Nextel closing 133 stores
JC Penney closing a number of stores after January
Ethan Allen closing down 12 stores.
Wilson Leather closing down all stores
Sharper Image closing down all stores
K B Toys closing 356 stores
Lowes to close down some stores
Dillard's to close some stores




Edited: Fixed spelling error in subject line - okarol/admin

[paul.karen]

Wow thats a big list.
I always found gift cards a little impersonal.  But good for those who you dont know what to get for.

Only one home depot in jersey.  Heck there is one on every other block

[thegrammalady]

i know that some of this is true. circuit city has filed chapter 11, linens and things is going out of business, they've had hughe markdowns at all stores here. but i was surprised to see gap on the list. gap, banana republic and old navy are all owned by the same company. my daughter works for gap and the only thing we are aware of is that old navy has put a hold on construction of all new stores. gap has cut employee hours way back but nothing else. i guess the key to this is if you get a gift card, don't hold on to it, use it right away.

[pelagia]

I checked for the Gap specifically at:  http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/storeclosings.asp

It says the Gap closed 85 of 2,677 stores, but is still opening new stores. 

[twirl]

so they would take your gift card money knowing they were closing
that sort of sounds like shoplifting the customer

[Rerun]

Good to know!!

                                       

[okarol]

Some of the stores are mentioned here http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/storeclosings.asp