Passage 2
It’s a brutal time in retail-sales dropped 2.7% in December, the sixth straight month of declines, and 0.1% for 2008, the first annual dip on government records dating back to 1992. It was the worst holiday shopping season in 40 years. Name outlets like Circuit City and Linens’n Things have gone bankrupt. Who’s next? Predicting which companies will go under is a notoriously tricky business, and we won’t try that. But here are five struggling retailers whose futures are definitely cloudy, with a look at how they hope to survive.
Talbots, the specialty clothing retailer, which targets women over 35, has run out of steam over the past year. Talbots’ same-store sales were down 13.9% in the third quarter of 2008, and the chain lost $14.8 million during that time. The company’s ill-fated $400 million purchase of women’s apparel shop J. Jill in 2006 burdened its debt load. “What’s hurting them more than anything is that they’ve got lots of debt on their balance sheet,” says Betty Chen, a retail analyst at Wedbush Morgan Securities. Talbots has shuttered its men’s, kids and U.K. businesses, and is shopping for a buyer for J. Jill. Good luck finding one in today’s market. Earlier this month, investors received some encouragement when the company secured a $150 million credit line from three Japanese banks. In 2008 Talbots also secured a $50 million credit facility from Aeon (U.S.A.) Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Japan’s Aeon Co. Ltd. and the majority shareholder of Talbots.
51.Japan’s Aeon Co. Ltd is a mother company of Aeon (U.S.A.) Inc.