I repeat what I said above: I wonder how much longer Sears will be around. Thirty-three more stores will be closing by November, along with 16 Kmarts.
Sears and Kmart closing 46 more stores
https://www.businessinsider.com/sear...es-list-2018-8
Sears, Kmart and JC Penney have been making headlines this year -- but the headlines accompany stories analyzing the retail chains' financial woes and speculating on how much longer they'll remain in business. Here is the latest one. The complete article is linked below. How much longer can JC Penney survive by catering to women in their 40s and 50s?
How it all went wrong at JC Penney
Nathaniel Meyersohn, CNN, Aug 29 2018
The economy is humming. Americans are eager to spend on clothes, toys and home decor. Just not at JC Penney. Leaderless, $4 billion in debt and with a stock price below $2, the besieged retailer faces an uncertain fate after posting its latest round of dismal earnings.
JCPenney finds itself weighed down by years of errors, failed CEOs and muddled attempts to establish a clear identity with shoppers. Penney has posted a profit in only two quarters over the past four years. In its most recent quarter, Penney lost $101 million and was forced to offer steep discounts to clear a glut of clothing piling up in inventory.
Penney closed 141 stores last year and is closing eight more this year. It has more than 860 left, but hundreds are in troubled malls, with leases that prevent Penney from escaping.
Its more flexible rivals have adjusted their businesses to remain relevant. Kohl's and Nordstrom have reinvented themselves with fresh brands and hipper stores. Discount retailers, such as TJ Maxx and Ross, have built loyal bases of value-focused shoppers. But Penney has lost both customers and the faith of Wall Street.
Analysts say the company lacks the cash and focused strategy to compete against big box sellers Target and Walmart, which are battling for every inch in stores, and Amazon, which is gobbling up digital sales.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/comp...BBZD?ocid=AMZN
Louisiana-born Henri Bendel opened his first store in 1895 in Greenwich Village. In 2013, his store became the first to sell Coco Chanel fashions. In the 1960s, Andy Warhol did illustrations for the store's print ads. Four years ago, there were 29 Henri Bendel stores nationwide. Now there are only 23 -- and next January there will be none.
Luxury retailer Henri Bendel to close all 23 stores
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/henri-b...xury-retailer/
Sales keep dropping, debt keeps rising, store closures keep happening -- and I'm afraid Sears is now in a ditch so deep that this "last-ditch" financial plan will not be enough to prevent the chain from going out of business.
Sears CEO makes last-ditch effort to avoid bankruptcy
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/comp...zxJy?ocid=AMZN
Sears' slogan used to be "Sears, where America shops." It has been a long time since that has been true.
Sears is closing more stores
Business Insider, Oct 3 2018
Sears is quietly closing another round of stores ahead of the holidays, with some layoffs set to begin two days before Christmas. The latest closings involve six Sears stores and five Kmart stores, according to company filings. Most of the closings are scheduled for November and December. Layoffs at a store in Poughkeepsie, New York, that employs 71 people are scheduled to begin December 23. Sears has been closing hundreds of stores and selling off assets following years of crippling sales declines. The newest round of store closings comes as the company battles to stay afloat under mounting pressure from looming debt-repayment deadlines.
https://www.businessinsider.com/sear...lidays-2018-10
Two days ago CNN speculated that Sears may be "days away from bankruptcy." Today we know the exact number of days: three. Stay tuned.
Sears' bankruptcy appears imminent
CNN, Oct 12 2018 11:34 AM ET
Sears has three days to come up with $134 million. Sears Holdings, the parent company of Sears and Kmart, faces a Monday deadline to pay that much in debt. The most recent filing from Sears showed it had only $193 million in cash on hand as of August 4, the end of its last fiscal quarter. The company also has $269 million available to it from lenders, according to figures it released on September 13. Having so little cash available would make it very difficult for Sears to pay back $134 million in debt due on Monday. Plus, Sears also has to pay its current vendors and employees and stock up inventory before the holidays. All signs point to a bankruptcy filing in the next few days. Sears' stock has fallen more than 50% in the last five days to around 35¢ a share.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/12/busin...tcy/index.html
In 1892, Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck started a mail-order company selling watches and jewelry. Over the next decade, the Sears catalogues grew increasingly larger as the company began offering food, tools, sporting goods, clothing, sewing machines and other merchandise. In 1925, Sears and Roebuck began opening retail stores. For more than six decades, Sears was America's largest retailer. And now we come to October 15, 2018:
Sears files for bankruptcy and plans to close 142 stores as the CEO steps down
https://www.businessinsider.com/sear...filing-2018-10
In the past three years, Apple has spent $200 billion on stock buybacks. Apple could afford it. Sears, on the other hand, could not afford to spend a measly six billion dollars on stock buybacks -- but they did so anyway.
How Sears wasted $6 billion that could have kept it out of bankruptcy
CNN Business, Oct 30 2018 12:48 PM
Would $6 billion in cash have kept Sears out of bankruptcy? It sure wouldn't have hurt. Sears' ability to stay in business is in doubt after the company filed for bankruptcy protection this month. Yet Sears spent $6 billion buying back its own shares since 2005 in a futile effort to help support its stock price. The stock plunged more than 99% in value, from a high of $143.91 in 2007 to less than $1 a share a couple of weeks before its bankruptcy filing. In bankruptcy, the shares are essentially worthless.
Sears could have used the money to reduce its debt burden and provide the working capital needed to keep the company out of bankruptcy. The company had more than $5 billion debt on the books at the time of the bankruptcy filing.
https://www.cnn.com/2018/10/30/busin...ase/index.html
Many Sears stores have seen an increase in sales since the chain filed for bankruptcy. That is not necessarily a good sign. Toys Я Us stores saw an increase in sales after the chain filed for bankruptcy in September 2017 and nine months later they were all out of business.
Sears faces new test: Luring holiday shoppers while bankrupt
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/black-f...hile-bankrupt/
In August, Sears and Kmart announced 46 stores would close. In October, Sears and Kmart announced the closure of an additional 142 stores. Now it's November and.......
Sears and Kmart closing another 40 stores
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/sears-a...s-heres-where/
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