quote:Originally posted by Peaser: it's easy, just chip every US citizen.
easy gunner...
well it would shutup all the whining.
Maybe it'd stop the whining about voting issues. But it would also convince a good chunk of the Christian population that we have entered the "End Times".
You're always finding a silver lining, Big.
Posts: 11304 | From: Fort Worth, Texas | Registered: Mar 2005
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posted
Looking at sufers list of stores what comes to my mind is that 40 years ago it would have been a list of heavy industrial factories no wonder we need easy money to lend we are a nation of low wage store clerks. All of us trying to live off each other
-------------------- Wise men learn more from fools than fools from the wise. Posts: 3827 | From: beautiful California | Registered: Sep 2008
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quote:Originally posted by raybond: Looking at sufers list of stores what comes to my mind is that 40 years ago it would have been a list of heavy industrial factories no wonder we need easy money to lend we are a nation of low wage store clerks. All of us trying to live off each other
Once, back in the hills, a superb colt was born, etc,etc,
punchline?
"Damnit, Jeb--we were both making a living offa that horse!"
Saturday, October 18, 2008 The Mervyns at Masonic and Geary streets in San Francisco... A man shops for clothing at Mervyn's department store Fri... Brian Lee of San Francisco shops at Mervyns, which filed ...
(10-17) 18:12 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- Mervyns, the 59-year-old department store chain based in Hayward, is closing up shop.
The ailing retailer, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in July and planned to close 26 stores, said Friday that it now plans to liquidate its remaining 149 locations and shutter the business after the holiday season.
"We are disappointed with this outcome but the company's declining liquidity position and the extremely challenging retail environment, together with the fact that we have exhausted all other possibilities, requires that we take this action," said John Goodman, Mervyns' chief executive, in a statement.
Mervyns plans to hire an outside liquidator to hold going-out-of-business sales during the holidays. The company said it determined liquidating its inventory was the best way to maximize value for its creditors. Company officials declined to comment beyond the press release.
Mervyns, a privately held company that operates 175 stores in seven states, is the latest in a string of retailers to go belly up or file for bankruptcy reorganization in the wake of the severe credit crunch and overall dismal economy.
Earlier this week, Linens 'N Things backed out of restructuring plans that included some store closures and decided to shut its remaining 371 stores. Other well-known retailers to file for bankruptcy include Shoe Pavilion Inc., Sharper Image Inc. and Steve & Barry's.
Consumer spending, an early barometer of the economy, is down as shoppers cut discretionary spending amid fears of economic woes. The U.S. Commerce Department last week said September retail sales dropped 1.2 percent, the largest monthly decline in three years.
To make matters worse, retail watchers predict this holiday season will be the worst in recent years.
The National Retail Federation on Thursday released a survey that predicts the lowest increase in consumer spending since 2002. And, for the first time, survey participants said they would spend less on gifts for family members than the previous year.
Mervyns' bankruptcy did not surprise retail consultants, who have commented for years that the store has lost its footing.
Mervyns' customer base has been especially hard hit by the housing meltdown and high gas prices. The store's customers are typically low- to middle-income shoppers who live in areas especially hard hit by foreclosures such as California's Central Valley.
The department-store chain continued to lose ground against competitors such as Target, Wal-Mart and Kohl's, stores that managed to offer similar merchandise but with greater consumer appeal.
"They couldn't differentiate themselves from any of their competition," said Harry Bernard of Colton Bernard Inc., a San Francisco retail consultancy. "If you took away the element of price, the product Mervyns has ben selling could be found anywhere."
Mervyns was owned by Target Corp., for the most part under Target's previous incarnation as Dayton Hudson Corp., until 2004, when it was sold to a group of investors including Cerberus Capital Management and Sun Capital Partners. Mervyns pared down its number of stores and pulled out of several markets in an effort to improve profitability. Cerberus sold out of the chain last year but retains some interest in the company's real estate.
On July 29, Mervyns filed for Chapter 11. The company at that time said it had a commitment for a $465 million debtor-in-possession loan from a lender group led by Wachovia Capital Finance Corp. The company expected to use that money to fund ongoing operations.
As part of its reorganization plans, Mervyns said it would close 26 stores, 11 of which were in California, and keep operating as a smaller chain. Trendy retailer Forever 21 Inc. has reportedly expressed interested in the remaining 149 stores, but the company did not return calls for comment Friday.
"The real estate has a tremendous amount of value," said Helen Bulwik of New Market Solutions, an Oakland retail consultancy. "For the right retailer, those locations are quite enticing because Mervyns was a major force in California. That's where 80 to 90 percent of their stores were."
Bob Carbonell, chief credit officer at Bernard Sands, a credit monitoring and rating firm, said the holiday close-out sales mean creditors will at least be able to get paid through the holidays, but at steeply discounted rates.
"From a vendor point of view, it's disappointing because vendors lose another outlet for their merchandise," he said. "For employees, it's a horrible time of year to face losing their jobs in an already difficult California economy. It's always a sad day when we lose a major retailer." Mervyns Through the Years
-- Mervin Morris opened the first Mervyns (spelling of his name was changed) store in San Lorenzo in July 1949. The store measured 2,800 square feet and had two full-time workers and a few part-time employees.
-- The company grew through the decades, even as competition with Macy's, J.C. Penney and other retailers mounted.
-- In April 1971, Mervyns went public with a stock sale of 300,000 shares.
-- Mervyns in 1978 merged with Dayton Hudson Corp. in Minneapolis (now Target Corp.). The company expanded into the Southwest and the Pacific Northwest.
-- In September 2004, Target sold Mervyns to a private investment group led by Sun Capital Partners, making Mervyns again a privately held company.
-- Mervyns filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection July 29, 2008, and planned to close 26 stores by November.
-- Mervyns on Friday announced plans to hold liquidation sales at all of its stores through the holidays.
Sources: Mervyns, Chronicle research
E-mail Victoria Colliver at vcolliver*sfchronicle.com.
-------------------- It isn't so much that liberals are ignorant. It's just that they know so many things that aren't so. Posts: 6949 | Registered: Apr 2004
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quote:Originally posted by raybond: Looking at sufers list of stores what comes to my mind is that 40 years ago it would have been a list of heavy industrial factories no wonder we need easy money to lend we are a nation of low wage store clerks. All of us trying to live off each other
yep. it's called a "service economy" service economies are doomed by their very nature.
-------------------- Don't envy the happiness of those who live in a fool's paradise. Posts: 36378 | From: USA | Registered: Sep 2003
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posted
The solution was pointed out decades back by many, that the economic well being, as well as the health of our lungs, was dependent on getting rid of the notion that petroleum was a never ending source of fuel for energy production and that there were developable methods of purely renewable energy production that could be researched and designed and that, such an effort would not only replace dependence on fossil fuel, but it would produce a world wide marketable product that would employ masses of Americans in order to supply those products across the world.
Instead we let corporate demigods, particularly the oil companies, take control of our future, so that now we are fast chasing membership in the cadre of permanently perennial second class economies. Sadly, we sat on our hands and the Scandanavian and Asian nations have stepped far out in the development of those industries and it may be too late to catch up.
We may end up buying that technology instead of producing it for the rest of the world, as we did with the automobile and aircraft and home appliances and so much other job producing endeavors that now have moved overseas.
Posts: 11304 | From: Fort Worth, Texas | Registered: Mar 2005
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Member Rated: posted 21-10-2008 02:19 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I heard Obama kicks bunnies!
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McCain makes love to bunnies
-------------------- Wise men learn more from fools than fools from the wise. Posts: 3827 | From: beautiful California | Registered: Sep 2008
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