How many lost jobs with this years CLOSINGS?

If you have any gift cards for any of these stores...use them now!


CLOSINGS AND LAYOFFS - If you have gift cards, hurry up and use them!!

Ann Taylor closing 117 stores nationwide. A company spokeswoman said the company hasn't revealed which stores will be shuttered. It will let the stores that will close this fiscal year know over the next month.

Eddie Bauer to close more stores. Eddie Bauer has already closed 27 shops in the first quarter and plans to close up to two more outlet stores by the end of the year.

Cache closing stores. Women's retailer Cache announced that it is closing 0 to 23 stores this year.

Lane Bryant, Fashion Bug, Catherines closing 150 stores nationwide The owner of retailers Lane Bryant, Fashion Bug, Catherines Plus Sizes will close about 150 under performing stores this year. The company hasn't provided a list of specific store closures and can't say when it will offer that info, spokeswoman Brooke Perry said today.

Talbots, J. Jill closing stores. About a month ago, Talbots announced that it will be shuttering all 78 of its kids and men's stores. Now the company says it will close another 22 under performing stores. The 22 stores will be a mix of Talbots women's and J. Jill, another chain it owns. The closures will occur this fiscal year, according to a company press release.

Gap Inc. closing 85 stores. In addition to its namesake chain, Gap also owns Old Navy and Banana Republic. The company said the closures - all planned for fiscal 2008 - will be weighted toward the Gap brand.

Foot Locker to close 140 stores. In the company press release and during its conference call with analysts today, it did not specify where the future store closures - all planned in fiscal 2008 - will be. The company could not be immediately reached for comment.

Wickes is going out of business. Wickes Furniture is going out of business and closing all of its stores, Wickes, a 37-year-old retailer that targets middle-income customers, filed for bankruptcy protection last month.

Levitz / BOMBAY - closed already. The furniture retailer is going out of business. Levitz first announced it was going out of business and closing all 76 of its stores in December. The retailer dates back to 1910 when Richard Levitz opened his first furniture store in Lebanon, PA. In the 1960s, the warehouse/ showroom concept brought Levitz to the forefront of the furniture industry. The local Levitz closures will follow the shutdown of Bombay .

Zales & Piercing Pagoda closing stores. The owner of Zales and Piercing Pagoda previously said it plans to close 82 stores by July 31. Today, it announced that it is closing another 23 under performing stores. The company said it's not providing a list of specific store closures. Of the 105 locations planned for closure, 50 are kiosks and 55 are stores.

Disney Store owner has the right to close 98 stores The Walt Disney Company announced it acquired about 220 Disney Stores from subsidiaries of The Children's Place Retail Stores. The exact number of stores acquired will depend on negotiations with landlords. Those subsidiaries of Children's Place filed for bankruptcy protection in late March. Walt Disney in the news release said it has also obtained the right to close about 98 Disney Stores in the U.S. The press release didn't list those stores.

Home Depot store closings (E. Brunswick, Rt 18 just put up their closing sign) ATLANTA - Nearly 7+ months after its chief executive said there were no plans to cut the number of its core retail stores, The Home Depot Inc. announced Thursday that it is shuttering 15 of them amid a slumping U.S. economy and housing market. The move will affect 1,300 employees. It is the first time the world's largest home improvement store chain has even closed a flagship store for performance reasons. Its shares rose almost 5 percent. The Atlanta-based company said the under performing U.S. stores being closed represent less than 1 percent of its existing stores. They will be shuttered within the next two months.

CompUSA (CLOSED) clarifies details on store closings. Any extended warranties purchased for products through CompUSA will be honored by a third-party provider, Assurant Solutions. Gift cards, rain checks, and rebates purchased prior to December 12 can be redeemed at any time 
during the final sale. For those who have a gadget currently in for service with CompUSA, the repair will be completed and the gadget will be returned to owners.

Macy's - 9 stores CLOSED!

Movie Gallery - 160 stores as part of reorganization plan to exit bankruptcy. The video rental company plans to close 400 of 3,500 Movie Gallery and Hollywood Video stores in addition to the 520 locations the video rental chain closed last fall.

Pacific Sunwear - 153 Demo stores CLOSED!

Pep Boys - 33 stores CLOSED!

Sprint Nextel - 125 retail locations CLOSED! New Sprint Nextel CEO Dan Hesse appears to have inherited a company bleeding subscribers by the thousands, and will now officially be dropping the ax on 4,000 employees and 125 retail locations. Amid the loss of 639,000 postpaid customers in the fourth quarter, Sprint will be cutting a total of 6.7% of its work force (following the 5,000 layoffs last year) and 8% of company-owned brick-and-mortar stores, while remaining mute on other rumors that it will consolidate its headquarters in Kansas

Sprint Nextel shares are down $2.89, or nearly 25%, at the time of this writing.

J. C. Penney, Lowe's and Office Depot are scaling back.

Ethan Allen Interiors: The company announced plans to close 12 of 300+ stores.

If you have gift cards for any of these stores, now would be the time to cash them in before they close stores in an effort to cut costs.

Wilsons the Leather Experts - 158 stores closed.

Pacific Sunwear will close its 154 Demo stores after a review of strategic alternatives for the 
urban-apparel brand. Seventy-four under performing Demo stores closed last May.

Sharper Image: The company recently filed for bankruptcy protection and announced that 90 of its 184 stores are closing. The retailer will still operate 94 stores to pay off debts, but 90 of these stores have performed poorly and also may close.

Bombay Company: (Freehold Mall store closed) The company unveiled plans to close all 384 U.S.-based Bombay Company stores. The company's online storefront has discontinued operations.

KB Toys posted a list of 356 stores that it is closing around the United States as part of its bankruptcy reorganization. To see the list of store closings, go to the KB Toys web site.

Dillard's to Close More Stores. Dillard's Inc. said it will continue to focus on closing under performing stores, reducing expenses and improving its merchandise in 2008. At the company's annual shareholder meeting, CEO William Dillard II said the company will close another six under performing stores this year. 

LA TIMES has laid off 250 people! The Los Angeles Times announced a plan to cut about 5 per cent of its work force, or approximately 150 jobs, as profits at the newspaper and its Chicago-based parent company, Tribune Co., continue to slide, according to the Times. LA Times to layoff 75 staffers. LOS ANGELES (AP) - Newsroom staffing at the Los Angeles Times is shrinking again. Newspaper spokeswoman Nancy Sullivan said Monday that 75 staffers are being laid off in the latest round of cuts. She declined further comment and would not disclose how many journalists will remain at the paper. The Times, which is owned by Chicago-based Tribune Co., reduced its overall staff by 250 people last summer, including 150 from the newsroom.

Extended Mass Layoffs - Bureau of Labor Statistics - In the second quarter of 2008, 1,534 extended mass layoff events resulted in the separation of 299,886 workers.

GM to Close Nine Plants, Lay Off 30,000 - DETROIT - General Motors Corp. (GM) said it will eliminate 30,000 manufacturing jobs, close or reduce operations at 12 plants in North America and slash its vehicle output as the automaker struggles to avoid bankruptcy. The job cuts represent 27 percent of the company's total North American manufacturing work force, using GM data from the end of last year. The announcement by Rick Wagoner, chairman and CEO of the world's largest automaker, represents 5,000 more job cuts than the 25,000 the automaker had previously indicated it planned to cut. G.M. Will Lay Off 3,550 - DETROIT - General Motors said that it would slash production of big trucks and sport utility vehicles by nearly 140,000 units this year, a move that would eliminate assembly shifts at four plants and cause about 3,550 workers to be laid off.
GM to lay off 1,600 workers from three factories. Automaker will also reduce assembly line speed at two of the plants. DETROIT - Another 1,600 workers at three General Motors Corp. factories will be laid off indefinitely over the next few months as the company tries to control its inventory amid a worsening U.S. sales slump. About 700 workers at GM's pickup truck plant in Pontiac will be furloughed starting Feb. 1, while another 500 at the Detroit-Hamtramck sedan factory will be laid off starting Jan. 12, spokesman Chris Lee said Thursday. In addition, 400 workers at a two-seat sports car assembly plant in Wilmington, Del., also will be out of work starting Dec. 8.

Chrysler Slashes 25% of White-Collar Workforce - To save money and ready itself for a possible sale, Chrysler and its owner Cerberus Capital will cut 5,000 white-collar workers. Chrysler Chairman and CEO Robert Nardelli pulled out the ax, telling employees in an e-mail on Oct. 24 that he will cut up to 5,000 white-collar jobs, or 25% of the workforce, with early retirement deals and buyout offers.

Ford expects to lay off 792 at Chicago plant - The final tally on jobs to be cut at Ford Motor Co.'s assembly plant on Chicago's South Side will be 792, according to a "mass-layoff" filing the auto maker made with Illinois authorities. Ford announced in early September that it planned to eliminate one of two shifts it operates at the 2,200-worker plant, which is located at 130th Street and Torrence Ave. At the time, the company said it expected about 600 part-time workers to lose their jobs in connection with the dropped shift, but couldn't be specific about how many additional jobs might be lost.

Ford Motor axes 4,000 jobs at Volvo news - Ford Motor's Swedish car automotive unit Volvo, part of its Premier Automotive Group, has announced another round of job cuts that will affect some 4,000 employees worldwide following the 2,000 jobs it cut in June 2008, taking the number of jobs eliminated this year to 25 per cent of its workforce, citing ''a rapidly deteriorating auto market.''
The cuts will affect 2,000 blue-collar workers and 700 white-collar workers in Sweden, while an additional 600 employees will be laid off outside Sweden, and 700 contracts with consultants will be terminated bringing its total planned reduction in employees to 6,000.

Yahoo layoffs coming - BURBANK - Yahoo Inc. officials announced this week that thousands of its workers will lose their jobs, and employees in the Burbank office are waiting to see if they will be among the 1,520 to be laid off. Yahoo company officials said they are still parsing through global employment status to determine where the cuts will take place.