2008.11.20
Steve & Barry's will close stores
The owners of casual clothing retailer, Steve & Barry's, said in a court filing Wednesday that all of the company's stores will be liquidated by early next year, according to a Reuters update. Steve & Barry's has one local store at Roanoke County's Tanglewood Mall. The New York-based retailer moved into a large, 48,000 square foot space on Tanglewood's upper level in 2006.
After filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in July and selling the business to investment firms, Steve & Barry's, based in New York, said in September that it would close 106 stores nationwide. But the Roanoke County store and a few other Virginia locations were planned to remain open.
But the new owners have been unable to obtain financing, and they said they cannot continue operating the stores, according to the Reuters story. They asked the court for permission to begin store closing sales soon, in time for the Christmas shopping season.
I hate to hear this! Tanglewood has gotten much better over the last two years with the renovations and new stores. I hate to see it lose a big store like Steve and Berry's.
Comment by Nicole — November 20, 2008 @ 2:11 pm
I recieved a email yesterday from my grandmother with a list of closings submitted to the goverment. I'm not sure how many of these will affect our area...but here is the list.
Ann Taylor- 117 stores nationwide are to be closed
Lane Bryant, Fashion Bug,and Catherine’s to close 150 stores nationwide
Eddie Bauer to close stores 27 stores and more after January
Cache will close all stores
Talbots closing down all stores
J. Jill closing all stores
GAP closing 85 stores
Footlocker closing 140 stores more to close after January
Wickes Furniture closing down
Levitz closing down remaining stores
Bombay closing remaining stores
Zales closing down 82 stores and 105 after January.
Whitehall closing all stores
Piercing Pagoda closing all stores
Disney closing 98 stores and will close more after January.
Home Depot closing 15 stores 1 in NJ (New Brunswick)
Macys to close 9 stores after January
Linens and Things closing all stores
Movie Galley Closing all stores
Pacific Sunware closing stores
Pep Boys Closing 33 stores
Sprint/ Nextel closing 133 stores
JC Penney closing a number of stores after January
Ethan Allen closing down 12 stores.
Wilson Leather closing down all stores
Sharper Image closing down all stores
K B Toys closing 356 stores
Loews to close down some stores
Dillard’s to close some stores
Comment by Brandi — November 21, 2008 @ 11:33 am
Brandi can you say Internet Rumor? Why would any of these companies provide this information to the government. In fact, this kind of information would be a violation of shareholder agreements. I don't disagree these are hard times but I find this list to be a little out there.
Comment by Greg — November 21, 2008 @ 3:50 pm
Actually here is a link explaining the closings you mentioned. If you read the entire article you'll see a lot of these are not what they appear. Some of them were Outlet stores and most were underperforming. GAP for example is closing 85 out of 2,677 stores but they are still opening new stores.
http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/storeclosings.asp
You have to be careful with the information you read and pass on to others. This is how we end up with people lining up at the gas pumps filling up two liter bottles and buying up all the bread and milk in the grocery store.
Comment by Greg — November 21, 2008 @ 3:59 pm
As a retailer on the upper level at Tanglewood I hate to see another store close. Fortunately, business has been good for us (Star City Batteries) after being open for a little over a year now. We plan to be here for many years to come, and I would like to see another retailer or retailers to occupy this soon to be vacancy.
Comment by Chris — November 25, 2008 @ 6:25 pm