Restaurants Closing Their Doors

It’s no secret that certain restaurant chains are in trouble. Forbes gives us a graphic reminder of some of those facing closures. Included in its pictorial are Country Kitchen, Damon’s Grill and Black Angus Steakhouse.

What Will Replace Movie Gallery Stores?

Movie Gallery is closing its remaining 2,400 namesake and Hollywood Video stores after filing for bankruptcy last year. New technology, such as streaming video, and rivals like Netflix, are killing off brick and mortar movie-rental outlets.

Landlords could have a similar announcement by rival Blockbuster Inc. to look forward to in the future, as that chain deals with similar problems.

Charming Shoppes Closes More Stores

Charming Shoppes, the owner of the plus-sized women’s Lane Bryant, Fashion Buy and Catherines chains, will close between 100 and 120 underperforming stores this year, management revealed with its fourth-quarter results. The news comes as same-store sales dropped 12% during the period.

In the last year, Charming Shoppes closed 152 stores. The company currently operates just over 2,100 units across the country.

Saks Will Close Stores

Saks will close “a few stores” that are underperforming and have expiring leases, according to CEO Stephen Sadove speaking at a recent investor conference. Saks will not be breaking any leases because of the high costs that process involves, he says.

Sadove didn’t specifically name any stores it will shut, but yesterday the company announced that it will close two stores in Portland, OR’s Pioneer Place Mall, which is operated by General Growth Properties.

Williams-Sonoma Shrinking Store Count

Williams-Sonoma will close stores in larger markets where it operates a high unit count, executives said last week at an investor conference.

“Our strategy for store closings is to optimize our cost per square foot,” CFO Sharon McCollam was quoted in the Wall Street Journal. The goal is not closing stores per se.” She offered no specific locations for closure.

FCUK Will Close Most US Stores

French Connection Group doesn’t have a large US store presence, but the one it has will get a lot smaller. The British apparel retailer is closing 17 of its 23 stores here after posting a fiscal-year loss.

While its store count isn’t large, nearly all FCUK stores are in prominent locations in the US, either in the most dominant mall, urban shopping area or outlet center in their locales.

Department-Store Closures on the Horizon

Department store sales are improving and many of the big chains are doing a good job controlling inventories after a dismal start to the recession. But for this to continue, they’re probably going to start closing some doors, according to one analyst.

“We’ll see more stores close than open in 2010,” says Walter Stackow, who follows retail for Manning & Napier, in a Reuters interview.

Dillard’s, Abercrombie Not Bringing in the Bucks

Motley Fool has some pretty frightening charts for shopping-center landlords. Some of the largest tenants in the industry, such as Dillard’s, Abercrombie & Fitch and J.C. Penney are posting serious same-store sales declines.

And these companies are among the most trusted names in retail. Are we headed for more store closures?

Scary Map: Unemployment by County

The map below (courtesy of current) is a sobering, time-elapsed look at how counties were impacted by the unemployment picture. We wonder if the largest number of store closings are in the black areas on the map. Click below and see what you think.

c

Blockbuster Closing About 1,000 Stores

Blockbuster is ramping up its store-closure process. By the end of next year, the retailer is closing up to 960 locations as part of an “accelerated” program, according to a recent SEC filing. That number is up from the up to 425 that were previously on tap.

In addition, the company is trying to terminate between 275 and 300 leases and convert 250 to 300 units into outlets that sell used DVDs. So in a worst-case scenario, that would mean 1,560 Blockbusters will shut down.