NEW YORK — Sears Holdings Corp. plans to close between 100 and 120 Sears and Kmart stores after poor sales during the holidays, the most crucial time of year for retailers.
The closings are the latest and most visible in a long series of moves to try to fix a retailer that has struggled with falling sales and shabby stores.
In an internal memo Tuesday to employees, CEO and President Lou D'Ambrosio said that the retailer had not "generated the results we were seeking during the holiday."
Sears Holdings Corp. said it has yet to determine which stores will close but said it will post on http://www.searsmedia.com when a final list is compiled. Sears would not discuss how many, if any, jobs would be cut.
The company has more than 4,000 stores in the U.S. and Canada. Its stock fell $7.88, or 17 percent, to $37.97 in premarket trading.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45795148/ns/business-retail/#.Tvr_DJhgPFs

And the economy is doing what?

You see them all across the country, in shopping malls and street corners, suburban towns and city centers: zombie restaurants.

Many of the undead are part of familiar chains that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection this year: Friendly’s, Chevys, Sbarro, Perkins. The zombie restaurants, barely bringing in enough cash to cover basic expenses, always seem to be one sizzling fajita or glazed chicken skewer away from a merciful end, but somehow keep hanging on — leaving too many restaurants chasing after scarce dining dollars.

“There’s a lot of walking dead,” said Bob Goldin, executive vice president for Technomic, a consulting firm that works with restaurant companies. “A lot of chains, they hang in there and they’re hard to kill off.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/28/business/bankrupt-restaurants-are-still-holding-on.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha25

A sign of the times?

courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen. - Winston Churchill


Just thought this to be a worthy quote.

Bi-Lo agreed on Monday to buy Winn-Dixie Stores for about $560 million, uniting two of the South’s better-known regional supermarket operators.

Under the terms of the deal, the privately held Bi-Lo will pay $9.50 a share in cash, 75 percent more than Winn-Dixie’s closing price on Friday.

The two companies said in a statement that the merger was driven by a desire for greater scale. Bi-Lo’s and Winn-Dixie’s geographic areas have no overlap. Bi-Lo operates 207 stores in South Carolina, North Carolina, Tennessee and Georgia, while Winn-Dixie runs 480 locations in Florida, southern Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana.

More sign of the times, one supposes...


http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/12/19/bi-lo-to-buy-winn-dixie-for-9-50-a-share/?src=dlbksb

They are working hard and deserve some

MAYFIELD HEIGHTS, Ohio (AP) — A northeast Ohio middle school teacher says an employee at a local Target store told her she couldn't shop with about 25 students buying items for charity.
Sandy Bean tells The Plain Dealer newspaper she and other Mayfield teachers have for about five years taken students to the Mayfield Heights Target to buy items for a Cleveland-area crisis nursery. She says they spend about $2,000.
She says she called Monday to tell a manager they'd be coming Friday and was told there weren't enough cashiers.
The Minneapolis-based Target Inc. apologized Tuesday, saying the store leader contacted the teacher and the students will be shopping there Friday.


http://news.yahoo.com/teacher-ohio-target-worker-snubs-student-shopping-015437126.html


Great Public Relations There Target..... or perhaps NOT