These are the updates with resource references of the stores that have been mentioned in the Gift card warning e-mail. Please, check the
at about the Better Business Bureau warning.
Companies that already filed Chapter 11
Filing does not necessarily mean a company is going out of business. Please, see detail on
US. Courts definition. Although the law
allows companies to stop honoring gift cards when they file for bankruptcy protection, that doesn't mean they will not validate the gift card, so check with them first.
Bombay Company - closed all 384 U.S stores since January 2008 but still operates stores in Canada under new ownership.
Mervyn's - filed July 2008, 149 stores to be closed and liquidated.
Circuit City - filed November 10, 2008 and planned to close 155 out of total more than 566 stores in U.S. by December 31.
Levitz - filed October 2007, sold in bankruptcy to a group of bidders and closed down all stores
Sharper Image - filed in February 2008, and all 86 stores to be closed and liquidated as of June 2008.
Whitehall - 373 stores to be liquidated by the chain, which filed for Chapter 11 in June 2008
Wickes Furniture - announced going out of business sale on March 1, 2008
Companies that will close some of their stores but not the entire chain:
Ann Taylor - (Ann Taylor, LOFT, Ann Taylor Factory and LOFT Outlet stores) will close 117 underperforming stores between 2008-2010. The company didn't specify the anticipated locations.
Cache - closing approximately 21 locations but expecting to open approximately 16 new Cache stores and expecting to maintain operation in 292 locations.
Dillard's to close some stores
Disney closing 98 stores
Eddie Bauer - closed 29 stores
Ethan Allen - closed 12 stores
Footlocker closing - 140 stores from 3,700 total in 21 countries
GAP - (Gap, Old Navy, Banana Republic) to close 115 stores and open about 100 stores.
Home Depot closing 15 under-performing stores
Lane Bryant, Fashion Bug ,and Catherine's - closing 150 stores as of February 2008
Linens and Things - filed Chater 11 in May 2008 and first announced 120 underperforming stores to be closed. The latest announcement said total 205 stores to be closed but 390 stores will remain.
Macys to close 9 stores in December 2007
Pacific Sunwear (also owned by Talbots) - closing 154 demo stores
Sprint/Nextel - to close 125 stores as of January 21, 2008
Talbots - closing 78 stores
Wilson Leather - to close 160 mall stores
Zales - (Zales Jewelers, Zales Outlet, Gordon's Jewelers, Peoples Jewelers, Mappins Jewellers and Piercing Pagoda) closing 105 stores out of approximately 2,145 stores.
Other
J. Jill - Owned by Talbots Inc. who pursuing a sale of this unit (latest news as of November 7, 2008). Talbots said it would issue further details about selling J. Jill when its third quarter operating results come out on Nov 25.
Please feel free to add the stores that I've missed either in the comment or e-mail me the list and I will add them on here.
Whoa, this is not generally known by consumers! Thanks for the heads up.
However, in Chapter 11 bankruptcies, businesses usually retain possession and control of their assets under a bankruptcy court's supervision. In the past, stores such as Macys, K-Mart and Toys R Us restructed successfully and contined operations. So it isn't necessarily true that any gift cards purchased from a store undergoing a Chapter 11 bankruptcy won't be honoring them. They are trying to restructure their debt so they can continue business.
Posted by: Renee | November 23, 2008 at 05:28 AM
Mary P Sonis at 7:20pm November 22 through facebook (Mira Miranti Borvornsin)
Years ago, our son (then 5) won a school science fair, he won a 50 dollar gift certificate to a Discovery store. When he went to redeem it..the store said they were in Chapter 11, and the first thing they did was not honor gift certificates. Pretty low to sell unredeemable gift certificates to an elementary school. By the way ...when we were there , they were still selling the certificates, this was no unfortunate mishap.
Posted by: Mira | November 23, 2008 at 02:59 PM