The retail apocalypse has officially descended on America

tod evans said:
I use it for ticks, never have had fleas here.......

Could be because the dogs think cats are stretchy toys?
Click to expand...

well if you don't have fleas in your area, then nevermind. dealing with a flea infestation because the flea meds you've been using for years stopped working is absolutely no fun for anybody.
 
specsaregood said:
well if you don't have fleas in your area, then nevermind. dealing with a flea infestation because the flea meds you've been using for years stopped working is absolutely no fun for anybody.
Click to expand...

I've never seen any...

Doesn't mean they're not around only that there's better pickin's than my house...
 
Oh.................Thanks feds!

For outlawing Lindane...:mad:

For a couple of bucks a person could mix up 55 gallons of dip, dunk the dogs, load the cattle and horse wipes and still have enough left over to use next month....
 
Last edited:
The last time I was in a mall department store, I looked all around, found something I wanted to purchase and had to walk all over that level to find someone who would take my money. Biggest waste of time, ever. Online, it's just click, pay, and wait for the package to arrive in the mail.
 
euphemia said:
The last time I was in a mall department store, I looked all around, found something I wanted to purchase and had to walk all over that level to find someone who would take my money. Biggest waste of time, ever. Online, it's just click, pay, and wait for the package to arrive in the mail.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that sucks. And if you return something to Macys, you have to do the return in the correct department. Once, I had to walk all over the store to return 3 items. o_O
 
Retail Store Job Cuts Deepen as More Buyers Migrate Online

Retail stores are cutting jobs at the sharpest pace in more than seven years, evidence of a seemingly inexorable shift away from employee-heavy stores as Americans increasingly shop online.

A combined 60,600 retail job losses over the past two months have had less to do with the health of U.S. consumer spending than with changes in buying habits. In the age of Amazon, traditional stores, from J.C. Penney to Macy's, have accelerated store closures and are experimenting with the use of fewer employees to staff the remaining stores.

The industry has also been bruised by a string of bankruptcy filings, most recently from Payless ShoeSource. The company announced this week that it was closing nearly 400 stores, nearly 10 percent of its fleet.

The job cuts in the retail industry, unwelcome as they are, are still a relatively minor burden for the overall U.S. economy. But for Americans seeking a foothold in the job market, the pullback represents a painful obstacle. Retail accounts for nearly one-third of first-time jobs in the United States, so a retrenchment by the industry's employers can block access to the job market for many.

As shopping on the web has expanded, retail jobs have represented a declining share of the labor market. They now account for 10.9 percent of jobs, compared with 11.6 percent in 2000, says Michael Niemira, principal of The Retail Economist, a research firm. And experts expect more store closings — and job losses — in coming months.

"It's principally about the impact of online shopping and how consumers are shopping differently than ever before," Niemira said. "It's harder for the industry to consistently do well and make money."

Take Fernando Ramirez, a 19-year-old restaurant server and college student, who was looking Friday to buy some sweaters at a Kohl's in Tustin, California. Ramirez said he stops at a department store or mall once or twice a week to see what's available. But most of his buying is done on the web.

"It's mostly to browse and see what they have," said Ramirez, who lives in Tustin, Calif. "I do more of my purchasing online now."

The two-month contraction in retail jobs — 30,900 lost in February and 29,700 in March — marked the largest two-month decline since December 2009, when the industry shed 62,200 jobs. That month's loss had signaled the end of a prolonged decline in the industry resulting from the Great Recession.

The retail industry losses for February and March were contained in Friday's U.S. jobs report from the government. The report offered an overall mixed message: Hiring in the United States dropped to its weakest pace in nearly a year, but the unemployment rate managed to reach its lowest level in nearly a decade.

The jobs report pointed to dire problems confronting many of the stores populating shopping plazas and malls. Department and general merchandise stores — a category that includes Macy's and Wal-Mart — shed 34,700 workers last month. Clothiers let go of 5,800.

Retailers involved in high-priced big ticket items such as furniture stores and auto dealers barely added jobs.

Nor are wages keeping pace. Average hourly earnings for retail employees, including managers, has inched up just 1.1 percent over the past year, compared with a 2.7 percent average increase for all U.S. workers.

The struggles of many traditional retailers can be traced most of all to Amazon and other online retailers. Amazon's Prime membership program, costing $99 a year, has been a juggernaut, with services like streaming music and video that have created fierce loyalty. Analysts say Amazon Prime members disproportionately buy more and spend more.

In the process, Amazon has redefined the standards for its rival retailers. They now feel more pressure to limit costs while expanding services and offers for shoppers, from free shipping to non-stop discounting, which take a toll on profit margins.

It's hardly just Amazon. One online-only retailer, Chewy.com, sells an array of pet supplies beyond what's generally available in physical stores, including high-end organic pet food. The fast-growing company plans to add about 3,200 jobs this year, raising its head count to 6,900.

Though traditional retailers are expanding their own online presences, those operations require far fewer workers. The labor involved in selling an item online through a distribution center can be 50 percent less than if it were sold in a store, estimates Pete Madden, a director at AlixPartners, LLP, a consultancy.

Ken Perkins, president of Retail Metrics LLC, a research firm, says he expects earnings for the first quarter for the 113 retailers he tracks to drop 6.8 percent. That would be the worst quarterly performance since 2013.

Stores are also increasingly adopting technology that reduces the need for employees, like shopping kiosks and iPads where shoppers can buy online while in a store. And some traditional stores like Macy's are testing self-service in some of their shoe departments.

In the restaurant industry, executives have touted the benefits of automation for customers. Ordering kiosks, for instance, can help speed up lines and improve order accuracy. Though it's still early, chains including McDonald's and Panera have introduced ordering screens in some stores. And some sit-down chains have introduced table-top ordering tablets.

One of the hard realities of the new shopping era is evident at the Richmond Town Center outside of Cleveland, where the number of employees working at stores appeared to exceed the slim number of shoppers on a cold spring afternoon Friday. Two of the mall's three anchors— Sears and Macy's — have closed in the past year. The third, J.C. Penney, is slated to close in June.

...
Click to expand...

http://www.foxbusiness.com/features...uts-deepen-as-more-buyers-migrate-online.html
 
HHGregg to close all stores after failing to find a buyer

INDIANAPOLIS — The going-out-of-business sales start this weekend at HHGregg.

The bankrupt retailer is planning to begin liquidating its assets Saturday after failing to find a buyer by its Friday deadline. The company expects to close all of its 220 stores by the end of May, resulting in about 5,000 layoffs across the U.S.

HHGregg CEO Bob Riesbeck in a statement said the company has "continued to fight for the future" since March 6 when it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

"While we had discussions with more than 50 private equity firms, strategic buyers and other investors, unfortunately, we were unsuccessful in our plan to secure a viable buyer of the business on a going-concern basis within the expedited timeline set by our creditors," Riesbeck said.

A company spokeswoman said Riesbeck was not available for an interview.

The liquidation process means HHGregg customers only have a few weeks left to use gift cards and return previously purchased items. Customers who want to make returns could end up being disappointed. The company, citing its bankruptcy process, is limiting returns on items bought before March 6 to $2,850 — a fraction of the cost of many high-ticket appliances and televisions.

The liquidation ends a 62-year run for HHGregg, which is headquartered on 96th Street. The company was founded by Henry Harold Gregg and his wife, Fansy.

CLOSING STORES IN 2017:Sears, J.C. Penney, Kmart, Macy's and more

HHGregg built a reputation as a regional electronics retailer, taking on companies such as Best Buy. But, like other big-box stores, HHGregg struggled to adapt to the e-commerce age. The store lost foot traffic and was slow to add features that online shoppers like, such as free shipping.

Riesbeck, who became CEO in February 2016 after Dennis May resigned, acknowledged he faced a difficult task. He described in an August interview how constantly changing technology has disrupted the company's business model.

"One thing HHGregg used to make their money on was those big-box TVs people had to have delivered," Riesbeck said. "And that's how HHGregg was built through the years. Once it went to flat panels, and all of a sudden people realized they could put them in the backseat of their car, delivery's not that important anymore."

Riesbeck attempted to divert HHGregg's focus from electronics to Fine Lines, an upscale store-within-a-store that sells appliances. HHGregg has become the seventh-largest appliance retailer in the U.S. behind Lowe's, Home Depot, Sears, Best Buy, Sears Hometown and Wal-Mart, according to the consumer electronics trade publication Twice.

Although the Fine Lines brand showed encouraging growth, it was not enough to make up for plummeting electronics sales. HHGregg lost money in each of the past two years. The company suffered through a brutal holiday shopping season last year, which accelerated its demise.

HHGregg this year has taken a series of drastic steps to stay afloat. The company in February said it would lay off 100 people, including 70 workers at its headquarters, and followed that up March 2 with an announcement that it would close 88 stores in 15 states. Those store closings, which have not yet been completed, would have brought the company down to 132 locations. HHGregg has a total of 220 stores in 19 states.

HHGregg warned a week ago that the end could be near. The company disclosed in a March 31 Securities and Exchange Commission filing that it would begin liquidating unless it found a buyer by Friday.

HHGregg has signed a consulting agreement with Tiger Capital Group and Great American Group to sell its merchandise, furniture, fixtures and equipment across all of its stores and 14 distribution centers. The bankruptcy is expected to wipe out the value of HHGregg's common stock.

As Riesbeck was working to reinvent HHGregg last year, he offered a blunt assessment of the company that could be considered its epitaph.

"I would say," he told IndyStar, "we're not unique in retail."
Click to expand...

http://www.indystar.com/story/money...ll-stores-after-failing-find-buyer/100183284/
 
Learn something every day , I would have thought H. H. Gregg sold more appliances than Walmart . They were probably the place to buy appliances in Indianapolis . I never go to the city except the airport .
 
Ya know.. I never heard of H. H. Gregg until a couple years ago.. still have not been in one. We have one (or had.. not sure now) where a toys-r-us used to be.
Our stove is acting up.. damn flat top stoves.. never liked them. Maybe I should do some speed research and go see what they have.
 
opal said:
Ya know.. I never heard of H. H. Gregg until a couple years ago.. still have not been in one. We have one (or had.. not sure now) where a toys-r-us used to be.
Our stove is acting up.. damn flat top stoves.. never liked them. Maybe I should do some speed research and go see what they have.
Click to expand...

I got all my appliances there except my dishwasher. I have to admit, HH Gregg has great delivery and set up service. My washer and dryer were a pain in the ass and those guys were awesome. The guy Lowes sent to install my second dishwasher told me his life story. I found out his place had bedbugs.:eek:
 
it took under 5 seconds for me to itch when I read bedbugs...

I looked at their website.. was not interested in any of their stoves
 
Well , with Sears dying off , I would say that will just increase appliance sales a great deal around here at Home Depot , Menards and Lowes . Maybe an opportunity for someone to pick up a few shares of stock .
 
dannno said:
You could teach CPUd a thing or two.

Trump will pick a design for the wall using at least 90% recycled materials, just to piss off the left.

Sorta like how Obama pissed off the right by calling his socialist healthcare choices a "marketplace"
Click to expand...

And he's going to use a Mexican company to piss off the right.
 
devil21 said:
Yeah, online is growing but these articles make it sound like online now owns retail. The truth is that online transactions are still only about 10% of all retail transactions. Methinks the online excuse is just that, an excuse, for the simple fact that people don't have much money and they're not spending what they do still have.
Click to expand...

We need another bubble. MIC stocks!
 
devil21 said:
Yeah, online is growing but these articles make it sound like online now owns retail. The truth is that online transactions are still only about 10% of all retail transactions. Methinks the online excuse is just that, an excuse, to deflect from the simple fact that people don't have much money and they're not spending what they do still have.
Click to expand...

I think it's a combination of both. Even though someone may not buy online, most folks shop around online to narrow down choices.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Pauls' Revere
Retail to install body cameras
Replies
16
Views
2K
Pauls' Revere
Pauls' Revere
Anti Federalist
Target to close 9 stores due to theft and violence against employees
2
Replies
26
Views
3K
unknown
unknown
Snowball
Walmart abandoning cities in response to out of control theft
2 3
Replies
45
Views
4K
mrsat_98
M
osan
The Greenhouse.
Replies
0
Views
960
osan
osan
Anti Federalist
Chicago sues Glock over design that allows easy conversion to machine guns
Replies
9
Views
1K
jmdrake
jmdrake
Back
Top