U.S. Retail Industry Numbers: 1,131 Store Closings, 9 Chapter 11 Risks, 37 Simultaneous Openings and 284 Expansions in 2010
The sum total of the numbers found in the U.S. retail industry store closings, store openings, job cuts, and Chapter 11 assessments in the second half of September don't add up to recovery yet. But despite the threat of recessionary aftershocks which some predict will hit the retail industry in the next year, many retailers are finding opportunities for expansion in the rubble of the recession's initial quake.
The most recent major additions to the retail store closings list were more sobering than surprising. In any other year, Blockbuster's announcement of 960 store closings and 10,000 retail jobs cuts would have been big news. But after a year's worth of upstaging, Blockbuster's huge jump up the store closing list was almost uneventful.
The liquidation sales of the $116 million of inventory that began at 104 Finlay jewelry stores over the weekend were also somewhat uneventful, except to those who were hunting for semi-precious bargains and those who will soon be hunting for new retail jobs. After watching the dissolution of Fortunoff, Whitehall, Robbins Bros., and Ultra, one more exit of one more jewelry store chain is barely newsworthy.
But the total of 1,131 additional store closings that were added to the 2009 tally in the past couple of weeks is nothing to yawn about. And these sobering retail figures are definitely a stark contrast to the state-of-the-economy picture that was painted by Ben Bernanke's "recession is over" speech this month.
There are still some U.S. retail chains that have not adjusted to the new normal of American consumerism. It seems as if they have been biding their time, hoping that the newfound American frugality is a quickly passing fad rather than a permanent shift in values. The resistance of these chains may prove to have been futile, however.
There are two different groups of experts who agree with that position and are predicting that... read more...
People in America need to realize jus what got America in this shape…”cheap” yes so-call cheap items from a foreign land.
quote*Wal-Mart firmly believes in local procurement. We recognize that by purchasing quality products, we can generate more job opportunities, support local manufacturing and boost economic development. Over 95% of the merchandise in our stores in China is sourced locally. We have established partnerships with nearly 20,000 suppliers in China. *end quote!
Now! if there be 182 country’s making items for the world to buy and they have only 5% of the pie in China…duh! This company makes the nice people of China support their currency(yuan) by keeping it in their country working for the people there…. but with the “yuan” going up in value and the US dollar going down…all the foreign items that the American consumer buys thinking it is cheap has went up in price.
People…its all about the currency and to keep a currency strong you got to keep it floating around the country you live in so it can work for you. For the past 12 years all them US dollars are being shipped overseas to a foreign bank and with the American worker not making anything for the foreigner to buy the “we the people” have to turn to the “second” largest employer in America(Uncle Sam) to sell “we the people” debt in order to get all them dollars back!
50 years ago a foreigner would had given their left nut for a US dollar or a Hershey’s chocolate bar and today the same foreigner has got Uncle Sam and the American consumer by both all the while Hershey is moving the chocolate factory to Mexico. Wake up! America and think “MADE IN AMERICA.”
quote*”Considering that there are over 30,000 ships at sea this morning,” writes James Carlton, director of the Williams College-Mystic Seaport Maritime Studies Program, in an e-mail, “the total number of organisms and species in this global ‘bioflow’ on the morning your readers read your piece could be staggering – billions of individuals, and thousands of species.”
Indeed, scientists have long considered ballast water the primary way invasive aquatic organisms are introduced. From the zebra mussel’s arrival in the Great Lakes, to an American jellyfish severely disrupting Black Sea fisheries, the potential costs of accidental introduction of a species to new homes can be tremendous. Aquatic invasives cost the US $9 billion yearly, according to estimates by David Pimentel, professor emeritus of ecology and evolutionary biology at Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. Zebra and quagga mussels (a cousin to the zebra) alone cost the $1 billion annually.*end quote!
tat is $9 billion a year in hidden taxes to all Americans…
cheap ain’t chic and it cost America…………jobs!
oh! and lets not forget about those 15 cargo ships tat emit as much pollution as 760 million automobiles. And the fact tat a 5 & Dime from the Ozarks will be looking at the blueprints of the 50 state capital building in order to turn them green while the Walton estate owns millions of shares in First Solar.
If you want jobs in America…..you have to buy American made and if you can’t find it jus put George back in your pocket cause he can help you there more than he can being stuck in a foreign bank.
Being an old person myself and knowing how it wus back in the 40’s, 50’s and 60’s in tis union of 50 states….I look at George each time I pull him out of my billfold and make a promise to send him out for items made in America so after floating around helping each hand he touches jus maybe one day he will shake mine again.
Wow….well said. Let ME shake your hand!