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11/29/2008: "Buyer Beware..."

I wanted to give everyone a heads up that if you tend to give gift cards around the holidays, you need to be careful that the cards will be honored after the holidays. Stores that are planning to close after Christmas are still selling the cards through the holidays even though the cards will be worthless January 1. There is no law preventing them from doing this. On the contrary, it is referred to as Bankrupcy Planning.

Below is a partial list of stores that you need to be cautious about.
Circuit City (filed Chapter 11)
Ann Taylor- 117 stores nationwide closing
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 specialty stores
J. Jill closing all stores (owned by Talbots)
Pacific Sunwear (also owned by Talbots)
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
Macys to close 9 stores after January
Linens and Things closing all stores
Movie Galley Closing all 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

Thanks for the info Kelly!

Replies: 3 Comments

Hey- just say a news story on this email- a lot of it is NOT TRUE-many are not closing but still a good reminder to check before you buy.

La said on Friday, December 5th @ 12 :33 AM CST

Circuit City is only closing half their stores, so they should still be okay. I know we asked at ours and they aren't closing. I'm with you La... stick to Target and you shouldn't have a problem. Our Linens and Things is so bare that I'm surprised anythign is left! They are only up to 30% off and there's hardly anything there anymore. We got my stainless steel coffee pot and toaster there (my early Christmas gifts).

Erin said on Monday, December 1st @ 11 :07 AM CST

This really happens- we bought a warranty on a TV- $400.00 and if you did not use it you would be able to use it in the store- they went out of business just a few months later- we called the lawyer who said we could get no refund and the store committed no fraud because the didn't know they were going out of business (right)- I say stick with Target!

La said on Sunday, November 30th @ 12 :01 PM CST