Gift Cards and Government Bailouts

I am posting a snippet from an email forward about something that is going on in the retail business sector. I'm sure most of you have heard about it on the new, because they are talking about it every night it seems.

I'm talking about the gift card issue that is a result of many businesses closing some or all of their stores as a result of the current economic situation. Before I post I want to get on my soapbox for a minute...

The title of this post includes 'Government Bailouts', but I'm not actually talking about those. I'm only including it because it has become this overarching, kind of sentiment or line of thought. It's hard to describe, but it mostly has to do with thinking that the government is responsible for the current economic crisis and YOUR economic situation. It's a fear that "times are really bad right now and I need the government to help me out or I'm going to lose everything." And this fear/emotion is running rampant in business as well, because humans are in control of businesses, therefore, their [humans] fears come with them into the workplace.

Please STOP allowing this fear/emotion to run your life and ruin many peoples' lives in the process. The government cannot fix your economic situation - only YOU can. Take control of your own economy!

Ok, so back to the gift card issue. It does relate to bailouts you see. GET OUT OF DEBT, work your job like you love it, get an extra job (I'm doing that very soon), save for your future, and start spending money at your favorite retail establishments.

No business should go 'out of business' as long as people are still buying their products. Don't wait until the store is going out of business and discounting everything 90%. Every store I have every been in has had clearance sales and other great sales through the years. By all means, take advantage of the sales, don't ever pay full retail price for something, and only buy it if you can pay cash for it. Then we won't have to worry about the follow:

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 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 – closing all stores (also owned by Talbots)
GAP - closing 85 stores
Footlocker - closing 140 stores more to close after Januaryr>Wickes Furniture - closing downr>Levitz - closing down remaining stores
Bombay - closing remaining storesr>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 storesr>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 storesr>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