by David Bodamer September 9th, 2009
Sears is closing more Kmart and Sears stores.
The two stores are among 22 Kmart and six Sears stores being closed nationwide this fall. The closings follow an $86 million second-quarter loss on revenue of $10.6 billion that Sears Holdings reported last month. In its earnings report, the company identified all 28 stores being closed as “underperforming.” None of the other 26 stores being closed is in Minnesota.
The new closings are in addition to the closing of 13 Kmart stores and 11 Sears stores nationwide earlier this year.
However, by my count Sears has closed even more than 52 stores. Last October, it had announced it was going to close 12 stores in 2009. Later, it announced plans to close eight more stores this year. Then in February it announced 24 more closings.
Overall, that puts the full number of Sears and Kmart closings for 2009 at up to 72 stores, unless there are some overlaps between this and its earlier announcements.
The original plan, laid out in January 2008, called for cutting 13 percent of AnnTaylor staff at headquarters and closing 117 stores.
Krill said on Thursday the company now plans to close an additional 30 stores, but aims to relocate those stores’ best workers to other stores. Any job losses resulting from store closures are not included in the 160, Krill said.
She reiterated the company’s plan to open 14 new stores this year.
In addition, last week both Samsonite and Pacific Sunwear announced closings last week. (Thanks to Jay Rickey for the alert on that.)
Numbers below have been updated.
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by Elaine Misonzhnik September 3rd, 2009
One of the biggest media debates recently has been about the extent of the problems in the commercial real estate sector. Some financial experts have argued commercial real estate might be the next bubble to burst, resulting in a mass number of foreclosures on malls, shopping centers, office buildings and hotels. Others feel the threat of commercial foreclosures, though serious, might be overblown. Today, we’ve seen some new input on this debate.
- Reuters ran a story predicting it will take an entire generation before we see another real estate boom like the one the industry experienced in 2006 and 2007.
- At the same time, Net Lease Insider argues fears about commercial real estate are unfounded. The assets still have inherent value. It just falls short of the ridiculous projections inherent in the loans underwritten during the boom.
- The New York Times also has some reassuring news. Retailers’ same-store sales might soon improve. But not because consumers will suddently start shopping more. The 2009 sales statistics will likely improve because we’ll be comparing them to one of the worst years on record.
- In the meantime, The Boston Globe reports another chain has filed for bankruptcy protection.
- And Laberscar discusses the problem of how to deal with empty department store space.
- On a somewhat related note, the Big Fat Marketing Blog warns some stores might look like ghost towns this fall. But not because the retailers have moved out. Rather, because they’ve been so conservative with their merchandise orders for the rest of the year, there might not be enough products to fill the available space.
- Retailers continue to open stores at the Gateway Center in the Bronx, however. We did a walk-through of the property and posted an interview with president of Related Retail, the project’s developer, last month.
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by Elaine Misonzhnik September 1st, 2009
While so far opportunistic real estate investors have largely remained on the sidelines of the commercial property market, it seems things might begin to change pretty soon.
Yesterday, Florida Real Estate Journal reported that Stonemason Partners LP, a local real estate investment firm, completed initial fundraising efforts for a new fund through which it plans to acquire up to $100 million in distressed commercial assets throughout Southeastern U.S.
Meanwhile, Bloomberg published details on Sam Zell’s new venture, a $625 million distressed fund through which the former head of Equity Office Properties Trust plans to buy commercial real estate mortgages for cents on the dollar. Zell has reportedly been working on the fund since July.
Related Topics: Finance, Investment, News, Retail Real Estate, Trends |
FDIC’s Sheila Barr on Commercial Real Estate
by David Bodamer September 9th, 2009
(Square Feet posted this earlier today.)
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