Abercrombie & Fitch Get Real with Ruehl

June 28, 2009 07:53 AM | Comments (0) | Posted in weekly retail report, store closings, abercrombie and fitch, ruehl

What: Ruehl No.925, or just plain “Ruehl,” was meant to pick up where Abercrombie & Fitch (its creator) left off. Targeted to the 22 to 35-year-old post-college, elitest crowd, the chain just couldn’t cut it in this recession. Not many 20 somethings are shelling out $100 on a pair of jeans right now. All 29 stores, located in 15 states (primarily on the East Coast), are set shut down by January 2010.

What They Say:

Wall Street criticized Abercrombie & Fitch for taking so long to close Ruehl. Abercrombie took a $51 million impairment charge related to Ruehl in the first quarter and will have to charge off an additional $65 million over the rest of the year. Same-store sales at Ruehl fell 33 percent in May alone.

What We Say: If you live near a Ruehl store, don’t rush there for a mini shopping marathon, hoping to cash in on all kinds of pre-closing deals. Find out when it’s scheduled to shut down and then check in a few weeks and even days before. We do, however, expect some great savings around the corner - Ruehl already started slashing prices before the bad news.

Filene’s Basement Files for Bankruptcy

May 4, 2009 09:35 AM | Comments (1) | Posted in weekly retail report, store closings, filenes basement

Apparently, personal shopping services can only do so much…

The discount department store filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy (which I guess isn’t as bad as chapter 7) this morning in an effort to reorganize their corporate structure. So what does this mean for us shoppers? Nothing right now… hopefully the store will be able to turn things around because we need MORE discount stores… not less.
Read the AP article

(Full Disclosure: Back in the day.. like waaaay back in the day.. I used to work at the Filene’s Basement in the Mall of America. Once, the Reggae star Shabba Ranks came into my check out line, buying a pair of black socks for $1.99. He wore really dark sunglasses, even though it was 8pm at night. )

The Budget Fashionista’s Weekly Retail Report for March 15

March 17, 2009 07:00 AM | Comments (0) | Posted in target, walmart, weekly retail report, store closings

We hate to be the bearer of bad news, but every time the retail report rolls around, we’ve gotta be just that. Here goes.

Slowly but surely, retail sales are increasing, but even though February wasn’t hit as bad as Wall Street expected, the news is still all bad. Just not as bad as everyone predicted. Men’s Wearhouse is one shining example of this; although its profits went down, they didn’t go quite as far down as anticipated.

Good News First
Wal-Mart is kicking butt and bragging about it, too, with this statement from the Vice Chairman: “Our customers have come to trust our ‘Save Money Live Better’ promise, and we exceeded our own expectations for the period.” Hot Topic also seems to be getting along without too many hangups.

Not Doing So Hot
PacSun reported major losses in Q4.
L.L. Bean is prepping employees for a wave of layoffs in 2009, but hopes some of their more senior staff members will voluntarily retire and make it easier for everyone.
American Eagle didn’t do too well in Q4.
Neiman Marcus gets the prize, though, with a whopping $509 million loss.

Up for Sale
Teen retailer Charlotte Russe is putting itself on the sales rack - who will buy it and for how much? Time will tell.
Meanwhile, American Apparel has successfully sold some of itself to Lion Capital.

Life After Bankruptcy
Well, we’ve got some new Chapter 11 team members - Robins Bros Jewelry Chain and an Icelandic investor in UK retail, Baugur. (The recession’s everywhere, folks, not just the US.) What will happen to them now?

Let’s just take a look at what’s going on with retailers that filed Chapter 11 a while back. Gottschalks department store chain will auction off its assets by March 30th. S&K Menswear has begun 30 store closing sales, with markdowns of 30 to 50%. And Hartmax Corp’s Hickey Freeman store in NY is shutting down for good.

The Outlook
JCrew, Marc Jacobs, and of course, Wal-Mart are all planning to expand in 2009.

Aeropostatle will be launching a kids chain this summer and eBay will be giving PayPal and some of its other ecommerce platforms a little more focus in the coming year.

Target, on the other hand, isn’t so daring. It’ll open less stores than it originally intended to..
Read our past retail reports:
March 9
March 3
Feb 27
Feb 20
Feb 9
Feb 4
Jan 23

The Budget Fashionista’s Weekly Retail Closing Report

February 20, 2009 01:00 PM | Comments (0) | Posted in store closings, claire, weekly report, retail report

Retailers saw sales rise a bit in January, but the outlook is still dreary. The National Retail Federation doesn’t think the stimulus bill will do enough to get consumers shopping again. In a letter to Congress, the NRF suggests that tax holidays might do the trick. We agree, but we think Congress might as well crumble that letter up and throw it away… it’s not like tax holidays are a new idea, so if they haven’t been implemented by now (in the majority of US states), it’s probably hopeless. Meanwhile, more and more retailers are on the brink of closing more and more stores. Here are some of the latest retailers to make the gloomy headlines.

Nike—cutting jobs
Claire’s—getting closer to Chapter 11
Georgina Boutique—popular NY retailer to shut down
S&K Menswear—has filed for Chapter 11

So, no major store closings to announce this week… but unfortunately, they seem to be on the horizon.

Take a look back on retailers that have suffered over the past month:
February 9th Report
February 4th Report
January 23rd Report