J.Crew files for Chapter 11 as pandemic chokes retail

[demmiblue]

Source: AP

NEW YORK (AP) — The owner of J.Crew is filing for bankruptcy protection, the first major retailer to do so since the pandemic forced most stores in the United States to close.

More retail bankruptcies are expected in coming weeks with thousands of stores still shuttered, though states have begun a staggered restart of their economies.

March sales at stores and restaurants had their most severe plunge on records dating back to 1992. Clothing sales fell more than 50% that month and, in the timeline of a pandemic, those may have been the good days.

The U.S. Commerce Department reports retail sales figures for April next week. That report will reveal the full brunt of the pandemic because by the beginning of the month, the doors of almost every retailer had been ordered shut.

Read more: https://apnews.com/973bfc4deb9804f724c47b3e77bf1f6f

[cstanleytech]

1. They have been in trouble for years since they went private and filed bankruptcy before so really

this is not surprising to me.

[Mike 03]

2. You are right. I remember reading interviews with

Mickey Drexler about their difficulties, it seems like a long time ago.

[Wellstone ruled]

3. Just another Retailer following the

Bain Capital and Federated Department Store Model. Load it up with debt and file Chapter 11,reorganize and reload the Debt and repeat .

[AtheistCrusader]

4. Yeah, this is NOT due to Covid-19.

It may have moved the timing of it up, but that's all.

[totodeinhere]

7. It could have been exacerbated by the lock down, but I think it's an acceptable trade off

if that's what it takes to save lives. And we may well see more bankruptcies, but so be it. We have no choice but to take these measures to save lives.

[LisaM]

5. While it wasn't a place I shopped at.....

the loss of brick and mortar retail was hitting me hard even before the pandemic; I detest online shopping, and many places I went to frequently that were nearby had closed (I was actually able to walk to most of them from home or work).

I'm wondering if the glut of empty storefronts will finally force landlords into having reasonable rents again, once this is all over. I hope so. Even if some of the stores I love have vanished forever, maybe new ones will step into their place.

[stopbush]

6. I love online shopping.

[LisaM]

8. Well, I don't.

For one thing, I'm extremely hard to fit, especially tops and shoes, and I really don't want to be sending a lot of stuff back and forth. Sizing is completely inconsistent, too. I found a pair of shoes I liked, two stores in my area carried the brand, neither had the shoe in stock, I ordered them, they were too big and kept slipping off my feet, but I needed them that weekend and couldn't send them back because I had to wear them. Had they been available in store, that would not have happened.

I also worked in retail for nine years and loved it (a bookstore). I still miss that job.

Speaking of bookstores, I love shopping in a well-stocked bookstore, there's nothing like it. You find so many things you wouldn't think of - and predictive selling like they do online makes it worse; it just forces buyers into niches.

I get that online shopping is good for people with mobility issues, or who live in rural areas, but I live in a city and one of the charms when I moved here was all the great stores. it's like it was a different world, it's so awful now, boarded up stores everywhere, chain restaurants instead of local places, etc. If you like online shopping, well, I guess you "won". The world is forming to your liking and away from mine.

[Politicub]

9. Another private equity story

Where private equity goes, bankruptcy soon follows.