Tops Market is another company that filed for bankruptcy in 2018. Nine months later, the Amherst-based grocery chain came out on top. Its new deal included negotiating employee pensions with unions and cutting interest payments from $80 million to $55 million a year. Closing 10 of its slowest stores was also included.
Competition has not changed. Specialty grocers like Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s are not going away anytime soon. Traditional supermarkets like Tops have been struggling against such stores for years. As for the ten stores that closed, Tops found jobs for all 600 employees affected by the store closings.
Bebe
Bebe is another store that has fallen victim to lagging mall traffic. But it has other problems as well. Sales were abysmal. In May 2017, the company announced it was closing all 180 of its retail outlets and liquidating all merchandise. Bebe was able to move sales into the e-tailing marketplace, thus avoiding a bankruptcy filing. Uniquely, Bebe had very little debt plus a good amount of cash. This helped the company get out of its mall leases relatively easily.
They could offer the leaseholders a better deal than the bankruptcy court would have. As far back as 2010, the 1976-established brand appeared to be losing to lackluster. Founder and CEO of the skimpy-sexy Bebe-wear chain, Manny Mashouf, seemed to lose his way and navigated the company in a direction his shoppers abandoned. His ex-wife, Neda Mashouf, left the company as vice chairman in 2008, and things went downhill from there.
David’s Bridal
David’s Bridal is yet another mall shop that has succumbed to massive debt. Last year the company filed for bankruptcy protection, cutting a deal to reduce its debt by over $400 million. The bridal shop was purchased from former owners Clayton, Dubilier & Rice by a group of lenders, including Oaktree Capital and Conshohocken, assuring the stores will continue to operate.
In case you’re wondering why David’s Bridal racked up so much debt, they will tell you. It’s the Millennials' fault. When all else fails, blame the Millennials. Apparently, folks of the marrying demographic, who we call Millennials, have been waiting to get married. Not only that, but when they do opt for marriage, they choose nontraditional styles. The other culprit is online shopping, naturally.
Lowe’s
Lowe’s announced its plan to shutter 51 of its big-box hardware stores in December 2018. Of the 51 stores that closed, 20 were located in the U.S. and 31 in Canada. After the closures, Lowe’s still operates over 2,000 locations in the U.S. and Canada. The closings are just part of “building a stronger business,” according to CEO Marvin Ellison. Also, the closures occurred in stores within a ten-mile radius of another Lowe’s store.
Just a little belt-tightening and efficiency improvements. The company implemented an unspecified number of layoffs in August 2019. In total, Lowe’s employs about 300,000 workers. At the end of the day, with Lowe’s recently reporting a lower profit outlook for the future, one can’t help but wonder what else is up their sleeve.
Vitamin Shoppe
Vitamin Shoppe is GNC’s top competitor. For quite a long time, if you needed any vitamins or supplements, this is where you would go. Except no one physically goes anywhere if they can have the product they want sent right to their doorstep.
Both companies are mired in the same retail nightmare. Vitamin Shoppe watched its stock price plummet over 80% between 2015 -2018. Sales slid downward for two years straight. The company’s 2019 outlook included opening ten new stores and closing 60 to 80 underperforming stores. One goal was to increase e-commerce, and in 2018, they increased online sales by almost 19%.