Tag Archives: closing

Business/Economics, Idaho

“We never thought we’d see this day” “It’s a necessary evil.” Obama’s homie town kills 1,400 jobs in 1 day! Corporate America layoffs hit 5 years high!: U.S. Job Losses & Store Closings, 01 July 2015

Incomplete list of publicly announced layoffs & shutdowns:

Arizona: After two years the non-profit Tucson Reptile Rescue warns it will shutdown due to crashing donations and crashing adoptions of rescued pets.

California: Monterey based CTB/McGraw-Hill laid off at least 33 Ryan Ranch HQ employees, due to selling off ‘key assets’ to Minnesota’s  Data Recognition Corporation.  In Oakland, after 40 years the owners of Bay Wolf restaurant announced they will shut it down in August.  They want to retire, so they’re selling the property.  In Berkeley, after 40 years the newspaper Poetry Flash warns it will shutdown at the end of the year due to a 27% increase in rent.

Connecticut: In East Hampton, popular restaurant Governor’s Tavern shutdown due to water problems that an uncoperative landlord won’t fix.

Florida: In Miami Beach, the restaurant L’echon Brasserie ended its Hilton Cabana Hotel operation.

Idaho: In another sign of a failed state Republicans have successfully forced all state taxpayers to fund their $2-million USD GOP only Primary: “It’s a small, basically private election, and the Republican leaders in Idaho have succeeded in getting the taxpayer to fund that private election.”-Dave Finkelnburg, Bannock County Democrats, interviewed by KIFI

Illinois: “Homie don’t play that!” Obama stooge Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel and Chicago Public Schools announced 1-thousand 4-hundred job cuts after being forced to make a $634-million  ObamaCare retirement fund payment!  The highly edumacated idjiot golutes borrowed the money to make the retirement fund payment, but says it’s coming outta the hides of 1-thousand 4-hundred employees who will now become unemployed!  The Chicago Teachers Union directly blames the Obama regime appointed school board: “This is a handpicked school board. It’s an appointed school board. The responsibility for this goes to the person who runs the school board, which is the mayor. These are the financial policies this mayor has pursued over the course of the years, where they’ve consistently left revenue on the table.”-Jesse Sharkey, vice president

But wait, there’s more! Chicago based employment analyst Challenger, Gray & Christmas says publicly announced layoffs hit a five years high in June 2015, up 43% from June 2014!  At least 45-thousand jobs were announced dead on arrival in June!  And then there’s Eastern Illinois University which says they must kill jobs due to a 28% crash in enrollment since 2007.  The Connect Transit Transportation (formerly known as Bloomington-Normal Public Transit System) laid off employees, union members protested saying “Connect Transit….has become very toxic, hostile, and harassing” as well as “The problems are not changing; they’re getting worse.” 

Indiana: Missouri based Silgan Plastics (aka Silgan Containers, aka Silgan Holdings) laying off at least 70 people from its Ligonier factory, in August.  The company has been eliminating jobs across the United States since at least 2013.

Kansas: In Hutchinson, the New Beginnings Overflow Emergency Lodging (Noel Lodge) shutdown due to loss of federal taxpayer funding (called a federal grant).  In Topeka, Books and More shutting down by the middle of July.

Michigan: Yet again, Farmington Public Schools increased their layoffs, this time by 51, bringing the total to at least 231 for the 2015-16 school year!  In Kalamazoo, sandwich shop Panini Express shutting down their City Center drive thru window because it “was hindering opportunities to expanded production for larger groups.”  After 95 years (surviving the Great deflationary Depression and numerous recession) the Wayne County Library system died.  Cities within Wayne County will have to run their own libraries.

MInnesota: In Duluth, the Department of Human Services shutting down the heroine addict treatment center Lake Superior Treatment Center in September, supposedly for code violations.

Nevada: In Las Vegas, the Book & Stage sportsbook and music venue shutting down by the middle of July.

New Hampshire: The Derry Fire Station 4 shutdown due to lack of money.  The city administrators also eliminated four vacant positions and cut hours for firefighters and police: “We never thought we’d see this day, but it’s actually going to happen.”-Michael Gagnon, Fire Chief

New Jersey: God refuses to stop ‘his’ Holy Family School in Lakewood, and ‘his’ Saint Denis School in Manasquan, from shutting down.  It’s blamed on what I call DSS.

New Mexico: In Las Cruces, atheists and homosexual marriage are being blamed for the shutdown of the First Baptist Church’s daycare center.  God’s church administrators said they don’t want the government forcing them to hire “homosexuals and atheists”, but you have to blame the money grubbing false christians for violating the 1st Amendment and taking government taxpayer money to run their daycare: “When the government gives you money, they have the right to tell you how to run certain aspects of your organization. We understand that. It’s not one particular group…it’s the fact they get to dictate to us, across the board, how to run our organization or different organization or ministries.”-David Burrows, church leader just now waking up to the fact that they must “Render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s…..” (Matthew 22:21)

New York: In Yonkers, Consumer Reports laid off 17 employees, in connection with ending publication of its magazine.  It should be noted that the current president of Consumer Reports used to work for the Ford Foundation.  Union reps say the company’s administrators and lawyers are violating the union contracts.

North Carolina: The state Department of Commerce reports that at least 3-thousand 5-hundred people lost their jobs in the first half of 2015!  Youngsville based Xerium Technologies announced it is shutting down its Quebec, Canada, machined cloth factory.  The U.S. company is moving operations to socialist Europe saying employee costs there are half what they are in Canada!  News reports say the Vernon Park Mall is now almost empty after a year of store shutdowns: “There was a lot more stores but now there’s nothing here.”-Jermica Mumford, mall rat

Oklahoma: Employment analysts with Region Track warn that another 11-thousand oil industry jobs will be eliminated in The Sooner State!  So far Oklahoma has lost 5-thousand 4-hundred petroleum industry jobs!  The East Side Elementary School in Okmulgee shutting down due to a one third drop in enrollment and a $1-million shortfall: “To save that kind of money, you have to do something drastic and that’s what this is. It’s a necessary evil.”-Tod Williams, school superintendent

Pennsylvania: Connellsville Area School Board jacked up property taxes, took out a $5-million loan (tax anticipation note) from PNC Bank and killed 11 jobs.  News reports say Drexel University laid off “several dozens” of employees due to what I call Disappearing Students Syndrome.  It’s been revealed that last week Mondelez International quietly shutdown their Roosevelt Boulevard and Byberry Road bakery, eliminating 350 jobs overnight!  Mondelez International makes iconic products for Nabisco, Standard Brands and Kraft.  The massive bakery is now for sale.  In Lansdowne, after 85 years the Mar-Win Market grocery store shutdown, 35 jobs lost: “It’s definitely the economy. Everybody’s trying to watch their pennies…..It’s a multitude of everything.”-Kirk Fuessinger, owner

South Carolina: What construction market recovery?  Engineering company Fluor revealed it recently eliminated 15 jobs in Greenville.

Tennessee: After 36 years the Stock-Yard restaurant shutdown.

Washington: Redmond based Microsoft announced yet more layoffs.  1-thousand 2-hundred jobs culled as Micrsoft sells its advertising service (bing ads) to AOL! More job losses are expected as Microsoft plans to sell more divisions.  From July 2014 to June 2015 Microsoft eliminated at least 18-thousand jobs!

Wisconsin: The state Department of Workforce Development reports that WARNs issued in the first six months of 2015 have exceeded the number of WARNs issued for all of 2014!  It’s no thanks to the Right to Work you over Scott Walker state government slashing & burning another 6,685 jobs (in 2014 they killed 6,186 and in 2012 they killed 6,511)!  Add that to the private sector job culling already announced and The Badger State will lose more than 13-thousand jobs in 2015!

30 June 2015: Restaurant owner chooses Greece over United States!  

WARN=Worker Adjustment & Retraining Notification

The U.S. Department of Labor (DoL) no longer issues mass layoff reports: “On March 1, 2013, President Obama ordered into effect the across-the- board spending cuts (commonly referred to as sequestration) required by the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act, as amended. Under the order, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) must cut its current budget by more than $30 million, 5 percent of the current 2013 appropriation, by September 30, 2013. In order to help achieve these savings and protect core programs, the BLS will eliminate two programs, including Mass Layoff Statistics, and all ‘measuring green jobs’ products. This news release is the final publication of monthly mass layoff survey data.”

Business/Economics, Idaho, U.S.

More Economic Decline: Pathetic turnout for east Idaho Mayor’s last ditch effort to save Postal Processing Center!

17 March 2015 (16:10 UTC-07 Tango 01)/26 Jumada I-Ula 1436/26 Esfand 1393/27 Ji Mao 4713

Only one city council seems concerned with the shutdown of east Idaho’s only mail sorting and processing center; Pocatello.  This is despite the fact the closure will affect all of eastern Idaho!

What’s worse it seems that even the residents of Pocatello don’t give a damn.  According to local TV station KPVI, only 50 people showed up to the mayor’s “11th Hour Town Hall to Reverse USPS Plant Closure” meeting.

A lot of blame can be placed on east Idaho news media for failing to explain the situation, as I’ve written before most east Idahoans are oblivious to the whole situation.  Even in the latest lazily done KPVI report no mention of the fact that this shutdown will affect all of east Idaho is made, they only mention Pocatello and “the county”.

The time of the Pocatello mayor’s meeting was set right at the height of operations at the Gateway Station; 18:00 hours to 20:00 hours, when trucks filled with the days mail from all over east Idaho (and even trucks from Boise) come in and employees are busy “hashing” everything out in time for outbound shipments after midnight (actually postal workers are busting butt right up ’till deadlines, but the mayors meeting was set for 6pm to 8pm, the time when the trucks roll in to dump their mail).  But, if anybody is wondering why Postal Employees haven’t spoken up or gone on strike it’s because they’d be instantly fired from their job, or fined or imprisoned (starting in 1947 with the Taft-Hartley Act which was replaced with the 1955 Act and several other Acts down the road, however, that didn’t stop a massive postal strike in 1970 that actually worked).

Either the people of east Idaho are so stupid as to not understand the importance of their only Postal Processing Center being shutdown, or they take their Postal Service for granted thinking it’s one of those things that will always be there.  Several countries in the European Union have fully privatized their postal systems in the past decade, and with disastrous results.  I remember reading about when Italy shifted to a fully privatized postal system just a few years ago, and the initial result was total chaos when it came to deliveries, and prices went up.  Many U.S. ebay sellers stopped selling to Italian buyers, it was so bad.

Ponder this east Idaho: You never know how good you had it ’till you lose it.

East Idahoans oblivious to shutdown of their only Postal Processing Center! 

Business/Economics

Sears & Kmart closing update, 29 January 2015: Junky 3D printed jewelry now sold by Sears? GGP is now up to $392-million on Sears that it killed! 122 Californians to be unemployed!

In Montana, the taxpayers of Bozeman asked their city administrators about using the now vacant Kmart for a new police state operation.  Here’s what an architect who helped designed the new taxpayer raped, I mean funded, $24-million USD law enforcement center said about the former Kmart building: “You can’t turn a sow’s ear into a purse.”-Bill Hanson

In Hawaii, an update on the fools at GGP (Genral Growth Properties).  If you’ve been following my Sears & Kmart updates from the beginning you’d know that GGP bought the massive Sears store at its   Ala Moana Center mall, then shut it down.  To date GGP has spent $391.5-million expanding and remodeling the massive Sears into dozens of smaller shops.   GGP administrators now say they expect to spend almost $600-million by the time the project is done.  They think they’ll get a 10% return on their investment, that is if they can lease out all the spaces.

An Ohio based 3D printing company, 3DLT, announced it has signed a contract to provide Sears with jewelry and even home ‘furnishings’.  Apparently some of those items will be sold under the Craftsman and DieHard brands.

A 50 years old California Sears shutting down in May.  The store is so big is has at least 122 employees!   A California Kmart in Blythe is rumored to shutdown, but local news say administrators at Sears Holdings called the rumor “…a bad rumor. The Kmart store in Blythe will continue to remain open to the public.”  Famous last words?

update, 27 January 2015: track record of destruction?

Here’s the updated list of U.S. Sears/Kmart store closings that I’ve been compiling since the end of 2011:

Arizona: Scottsdale Sears/Great Indoors, Chandler Sears/Great Indoors.

Alabama: Gadsden Kmart (50 jobs lost), Mobile Sears (at least 40 jobs lost), Auburn Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Anniston Kmart (no word yet on how many jobs lost), Birmingham Eastwood Kmart (70 jobs lost), Decatur Mall Sears (91 jobs lost), Fort Payne Kmart, Northport Kmart (68 jobs lost), Dothan Sears (68 jobs lost), Huntsville Kmart (73 jobs lost).

California: El Monte Sears (at least 40 jobs lost. Damien Arrula, El Monte’s economic development director, said the store manager had lied about what was going on: “The general manager of the store had just indicated to me that they were remodeling.”), two San Diego Sears (more than 80 jobs lost), Pleasant Hill Kmart (more than 50 jobs lost), Torrance Kmart, Fairfield Kmart (63 jobs lost), Lampert owned OSH taken over by Lowe’s home improvement in bankruptcy court, at least 17 of 99 stores to be closed down (935 jobs lost!), Rancho Cordova Kmart (97 jobs lost), San Clemente Kmart/Sears/Kmart on Camino de Estrella (58 jobs lost), placed on an official hit list in 2011 the Oceanside Kmart on College Boulevard finally being shut down, Banning Kmart (91 jobs lost) recently revealed that Sears Holdings is still paying rent on the abandoned property, Laguna Hills Mall Sears, San Diego Mid-City Kmart (73 jobs lost), Hemet Kmart (77 jobs lost), Oakland Sears repair center (75 jobs lost), San Mateo Kmart (82 jobs lost to an apartment building connected to public transportation), Hesperia Kmart building sold at a loss to a vulture capitalist REIT, no word on if the Kmart will be shutdown. Customers complain that the Kmart employees have a bad attitude, gee I wonder why? Yuba City Kmart (63 jobs lost), Rocklin Kmart (at least 63 jobs lost, the store had just posted “Now Hiring” signs), San Leandro Kmart (102 jobs lost), San Jose Mercury News says the El Centro Kmart to shutdown in January, the website Foursquare says the Covina Kmart is now shutdown (other sources say it will shutdown in December), Cupertino Sears and Auto Center (number of employees affected not made public, no WARN filed), somebody posted on yelp* that the Diamond Bar Kmart was shutting down in December (confirmed by Armijo Newspapers), recently revealed Westfield Topanga Sears (122 jobs lost).

Colorado: Broomfield Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Glenwood Springs Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Lone Tree Sears/Great Indoors, Longmont Sears (at least 40 jobs lost), Pueblos’ South Side Kmart (52 jobs lost), Denver Kmart (number of jobs lost have not been made public at this time, but could be at least 40), Colorado Springs Kmart at Powers and Palmer Park boulevards (57 jobs lost), Fort Collins Sears (67 jobs lost), Denver-Cherry Creek North Sears store & Auto Center (66 jobs lost).

Connecticut: Waterbury Big Kmart, Torrington Kmart (73 jobs lost), Enfield Sears Optical (no word on jobs lost).

Delaware: Dover Kmart (at least 72 jobs lost, some reports said 100), Seaford Sears (30 jobs lost), Claymont Kmart (87 jobs lost).

Florida: Fernandina Beach Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Callaway Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Orange City Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Deland Sears (at least 40 jobs lost), Stuart Sears (at least 40 jobs lost), West Palm Beach Sears (at least 40 jobs lost), Port St. Lucie Sears (at least 40 jobs lost), Crystal River Sears (at least 40 jobs lost), New Smyrna Beach Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Saint Augustine Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Pompano Beach Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Jacksonville Kmart on 5751 Beach Boulevard (71 jobs lost), second Kmart in Jacksonville on 4645 Blanding Boulevard (83 jobs lost), Ocoee Sears (102 jobs lost), Pensacola Kmart on Airport Boulevard closed in 2011, Pensacola Kmart on Mobile Highway closed in February 2013 (69 jobs lost), Pensacola Kmart on East 9 Mile Road will close in May (73 jobs lost), Hialeah Kmart (67 jobs lost), Bonita Springs Kmart (67 jobs lost), Mount Dora Kmart (100 jobs lost), Lake Mary Kmart, Panama City Beach Kmart (54 jobs lost), Winter Park Kmart (100 jobs lost), Niceville Kmart (59 jobs lost), Winter Haven Kmart (92 jobs lost), Palm Bay Kmart, Oakland Park Kmart (112 jobs lost), Clearwater Sears Auto Center (21 jobs lost), Zephyrhills Kmart (70 jobs lost), Winter Springs Kmart (69 jobs lost), Naples Kmart (72 jobs lost), New Port Richey Kmart (58 jobs lost), ‘redevelopment’ of Aventura Sears & Auto Center into an “open-air village” (unknown how many jobs affected).

Georgia: Macon Sears (at least 40 jobs lost), Buford Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Douglasville Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Atlanta Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Columbus Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Jonesboro Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Cartersville Kmart (74 jobs lost), Hiram Kmart (53 jobs lost), Marietta-East Cobb Kmart, Warner Robins Kmart (77 jobs lost), Coweta County Kmart distribution center (164 jobs lost).

Guam: Sears Hometown Store.

Hawaii: Honolulu Sears (owned by GGP, 372 jobs lost! GGP spending $573-million chopping it up into smaller store spaces), Kauai Sears (41 jobs lost), Iwilei-Honolulu Kmart for lease (no confirmation of store closing).

Idaho: Lewiston Sears (at least 60 jobs lost), Rexburg Kmart (63 jobs lost), Chubbuck Pine Ridge Mall Sears shutdown by the end of October/beginning of November 2014 (the remaining 28 jobs lost). Across the street, in Pocatello, the property where the Kmart is located has a “pad site available” sign, posted ever since the Kmart bankruptcy. The Kmart building takes up most of the ‘pad’. Latest news from inside sources say Sears Holdings will not comment on any plans to expand the small amount of Craftsman products already being sold at the Kmart, or shift the Kenmore products line, from the closing Chubbuck Sears to the Pocatello Kmart. In fact all plans for the Pokey Kmart are in a ‘holding pattern’.

Illinois: Alton Sears (at least 40 jobs lost), Melrose Park Sears parts and repair center (50 jobs lost), Zion Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Oak Lawn Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), McHenry Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Peru Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Lombard Sears/Great Indoors (at least 40 jobs lost), Fairview Heights Kmart (81 jobs lost), Freeport Kmart (45 jobs lost), Pontiac Kmart (more than 47 jobs lost), Homer Glen Kmart (82 jobs lost), Streator Kmart (45 jobs lost), Lombard Kmart (70 jobs lost), Naperville Kmart (98 jobs lost), Calumet Sears (164 jobs lost), two Sears stores in Grand Crossing area of Chicago (247 jobs lost!), Mount Vernon Sears (68 jobs lost), Moline Sears (at least 60 jobs lost), Homewood Kmart (185 jobs lost), Belvidere Kmart (91 jobs lost?) revealed is now a perpetual closing sale Kmart At A Discount store, Champaign’s Market Place Mall Sears (56 jobs lost), Sterling Kmart (60 jobs lost), Montgomery Kmart (81 jobs lost), Mattoon Sears (more than 40 jobs lost), Chicago Sears on North State Street (160 jobs lost), Chicago Sears Craftsman Experience store, Galesburg Sears (46 jobs lost), White Lake Township Kmart (42 jobs lost), Orland Park Sears Appliance, Collinsville Kmart (84 jobs lost), Crystal Lake Kmart (at least 77 jobs lost), Danville Sears store & Auto Center (63 jobs lost), Forsyth Sears store & Auto Center (45 jobs lost), Peoria Kmart (73 jobs lost), Forest Park Kmart (107 jobs lost), Chicago Sears on North and Harlem avenues, supposedly it’s being replaced (most likely at taxpayer expense) with a new building and it will become a Sears-Mariano’s store, Bloomington Kmart (79 jobs lost), Hoffman Estates Headquarters 100 jobs eliminated, another 15 corporate jobs eliminated elsewhere! 58 Chicago area stores up for lease or sale. By the way, Illinois elected officials gave Sears Holdings/Hoffman Estates a $150 million USD tax break to keep their headquarters in the state. The tax break was not tied to any promise not to close stores.

Indiana: Anderson Sears (at least 40 jobs lost), Saint John Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Indianapolis Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Richmond Sears (49 jobs lost), South Anthony Kmart (70 jobs lost), Fort Wayne Kmart on South Anthony Boulevard (70 jobs lost), FairOaks Mall Kmart, Logansport Sears (43 jobs lost), Muncie Kmart (59 jobs lost), Fort Wayne Kmart on Coliseum Boulevard North (69 jobs lost), Decatur Kmart (49 jobs lost), Indianapolis Kmart on Madison Avenue (131 jobs lost), Indianapolis Kmart on Washington Street (139 jobs lost), Bedford Kmart (62 jobs lost), Indianapolis (Evansville) Sears & Auto Center at Washington Square Mall (91 jobs lost), Greenwood Kmart (78 jobs lost),  Plymouth Kmart (“approximately” 68 jobs lost).

Iowa: Cedar Rapids Kmart on 16th Ave (at least 40 jobs lost), Davenport Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Burlington Kmart (50 jobs lost), Coralville Sears (94 jobs lost, this is a store sold to GGP earlier in the year), Cedar Rapids Kmart on Collins Road NE (56 jobs lost), Mason City Kmart (50 jobs lost), Clive Kmart (at least 49 jobs lost), Ames Kmart (44 jobs lost), Fort Dodge Sears (no job loss numbers made public, yet. The Auto Center was secretly shutdown in September).

Kansas: Lawrence Sears (at least 40 jobs lost), Merriam Kmart-then Sears-then Kmart (jobs lost unknown), Wichita Sears store & Auto Center (103 jobs lost), Manhattan Sears & Auto Center (number of jobs lost were never revealed).

Kentucky: Middlesboro Sears (in September 2012 the Sears store re-opened under independent ownership, official grand re-opening scheduled for November), Winchester Kmart (back in May, Rankin Paynter bought out what was left of the inventory and gave it to charity), Hazard Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Lexington Fayette Mall Sears (114 jobs lost!), Newport Kmart (81 jobs lost), Cannonsburg Sears and Sears Auto Center (no employee info given), Louisville Dixie Highway Kmart/Sears/Kmart, Madisonville Kmart (39 jobs lost), Owensboro Sears store & Auto Center (52 jobs lost).

Louisiana: Slidell Sears (77 job lost), Gretna Kmart (94 jobs lost), Metairie Kmart secretly sold off, no word if it will be shutdown.

Maine: Lewiston Sears (60 to 70 jobs lost), Presque Isle Aroostook Centre Mall Sears (63 jobs lost).

Maryland: Ellicott Sears (at least 40 jobs lost), Gaithersburg Sears/Great Indoors, Landover Sears rebuild & call center (115 jobs lost), Baltimore Kmart on Wabash Avenue (107 jobs lost).

Massachusetts: North Reading Sears Hardware store closed, lease not renewed, Milford Kmart (80 jobs lost), Kingston Kmart (73 jobs lost).

Michigan: Novi Sears/Great Indoors, Brighton Sears Grand/Essentials, Harper Woods Sears Full line, Monroe Sears Full line, Adrian Sears Full line, Washington Township Kmart, Chesterfield Kmart, Woodhaven Kmart, Saginaw Kmart on Bay Road, Flint Kmart on Dort Highway (46 jobs lost), Gaylord Kmart (48 jobs lost), Sterling Kmart (58 jobs lost), Bloomfield Township Kmart and Sears, Bad Axe Kmart (61 jobs lost), Ypsilanti Township Kmart (83 jobs lost), Petoskey Kmart (45 jobs lost), Saint John’s Kmart (48 jobs lost), White Lake Township “Store of the Future” Kmart (42 jobs lost), Grand Blanc Kmart (49 jobs lost), Lapeer Kmart (56 jobs lost), Southgate Kmart (155 jobs lost), Detroit’s Telegraph Road Kmart (115 jobs lost), Waterford Township Sears (no word on how many jobs lost), Rochester Hills Kmart (77 jobs lost), ‘perfect Kmart town’ of Port Huron Kmart (188 jobs lost), Flint Kmart on Miller Road (81 jobs lost), Burton Kmart (85 jobs lost), Madison Heights Kmart (179 jobs lost), it’s now obvious the last remaining Saginaw Kmart will remain shutdown after its roof collapsed during a snowstorm back in January 2014, Ann Arbor Kmart (59 jobs lost), Iron Mountain Kmart (54 jobs lost), Bangor Township Sears aka Bay City Mall Sears, the Auto Center was already secretly shutdown some time ago (at least 47 jobs lost), Big Rapids Kmart (about 50 jobs lost).

Minnesota: Willmar Kmart, Duluth Kmart, New Hope Kmart, White Bear Lake Kmart, Bemidji Kmart, Monticello Kmart, GGP owned Sears Auto Center in the Apache Mall closed (10 jobs lost), the entire Sears store in the Apache Mall being sold off, Fergus Falls Kmart (40 jobs lost), Fergus Falls Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Alexandria Kmart (46 jobs lost), Grand Rapids Kmart (61 jobs lost), Seritage is selling off three Sears Auto Centers in Minnetonka, Brooklyn Center and Saint Paul, Marshall Kmart (57 jobs lost), Oakdale Kmart (77 hourly wage employees losing their jobs, unknown how many salaried employees will become unemployed), Winona Kmart (67 jobs lost), Minneapolis city officials trying to shutdown profit making Nicollet Avenue Kmart, to make way for a new road. Anoka Kmart (47 jobs lost), Blaine Kmart (60 jobs lost), Burnsville Kmart (62 jobs lost), Waite Park Kmart (57 jobs lost), Northeast Minneapolis Sears Hometown & Outlet store now for sale, Coon Rapids Sears Hometown & Outlet store now for sale.

Mississippi: Jackson Sears Full line, McComb Sears Full line, Columbus Sears Full line, Gautier Sears (71 jobs lost), Waveland Gulfport Kmart (32 jobs lost), Pass Road Gulfport Kmart (52 jobs lost), Pascagoula Sears at the Singing River Mall, Olive Branch distribution center (unknown how many jobs lost).

Missouri: Lee’s Summit Sears Grand/Essentials, Saint Louis Sears Full line, High Ridge Kmart (59 jobs lost), Ellisville Kmart (55 jobs lost), Springfield Kmart on South Campbell Avenue (60 jobs lost), South Belt Kmart (64 jobs lost), Florissant Kmart (100 jobs lost).

Montana: Missoula Kmart (50 jobs lost), Great Falls Kmart (closed “until further notice” due to fire, 63 jobs on hold), Great Falls Sears store & Auto Center (65 jobs lost) due to great sales (ironically) the shutdown date has been moved from 07 December 2014 to 23 November, Bozeman Kmart (37 jobs lost).

Nebraska: Grand Island Kmart (55 jobs lost), Omaha Kmart near West Maple Road (50 jobs lost).

Nevada: Sparks Kmart distribution center (100 jobs lost).

New Hampshire: Nashau Sears Grand/Essentials, Keene Sears Grand/Essentials, Portsmouth Kmart (30 jobs lost), Claremont Kmart (59 jobs lost).

New Jersey: Lawnside Kmart (about 80 jobs lost), Howell Kmart (57 jobs lost), Berlin Kmart, Dover Kmart (92 jobs lost), Randolf Kmart (91 jobs lost), Paramus Kmart (74 jobs lost).

New Mexico: Las Cruces Kmart (58 jobs lost), Albuquerque Kmart on Central SW (80 jobs lost), Rio Rancho Kmart (59 jobs lost).

New York: Depew (Lancaster?) Kmart (68 jobs lost), Colonie Kmart (72 jobs lost), Fulton Kmart (51 jobs lost), Clifton Park Kmart (74 jobs lost), Latham Kmart (61 jobs lost), East Greenbush-Rensselaer Kmart (70 jobs lost), Tonawanda Sears Appliance and Hardware, Bronx Sears (91 jobs lost), BBN reader reported that the Ithaca Sears and Auto Center shutdown and one month later it’s been officially confirmed (at least 37 jobs lost), DeWitt Kmart (92 jobs lost), Auburn Sears (51 jobs lost), Massena Sears and Auto Center (51 jobs lost).

North Carolina: Cary Kmart (71 jobs lost), High Point Sears, Moorehead Sears, Rocky Mount Sears, Statesville Sears, Durham Kmart (79 jobs lost), Asheville Kmart (53 jobs lost), West Smithfield Kmart (59 jobs lost), Winston-Salem Kmart (69 jobs lost), Hendersonville Kmart (58 jobs lost), South Ashville Kmart on Hendersonville Road, Raleigh Kmart (88 jobs lost), Garner Kmart, Cleveland County mall Sears (56 jobs lost), Charlotte Kmart (89 jobs lost), Conover Kmart (74 jobs lost), Raleigh Kmart on Capital Boulevard (53 jobs lost), High Point Kmart (71 jobs lost), Boone Kmart (41 jobs lost), Greensboro Kmart (96 jobs lost), Gastonia Sears store & Auto Center (65 jobs lost), Kinston Kmart (64 jobs lost), Cary Sears (66 jobs lost), Greensboro Kmart distribution center (130 jobs lost).

North Dakota: Jamestown Kmart (45 jobs lost), Dickinson Kmart (41 jobs lost, despite a “Now Hiring” sign on the front of the store).

Ohio: Chagrin Falls Kmart, Springfield Kmart, two Toledo Kmarts, Medina Kmart, Columbus Kmart, Columbus Sears/Great Indoors, Zanesville Sears (67 jobs lost), Trotwood Kmart (71 jobs lost), Austintown Sears auto parts and service on Interstate Boulevard, London Kmart (no word on number of jobs lost), Trotwood Sears (67 jobs lost), Westlake Kmart/Sears (at least 57 jobs lost), Xenia Kmart (at least 57 jobs lost), Norwalk Kmart (52 jobs lost), Blue Ash Kmart (77 jobs lost), Northwood Sears at Woodville Mall (36 jobs lost), Conneaut Kmart (43 jobs lost), Anderson Township Kmart (71 jobs lost), Brooklyn Kmart (200 jobs lost), Columbus Lockbourne Industrial Parkway Sears distribution center (200 jobs lost), also in Columbus, Sears Product Rebuild-Call Center (112 jobs lost), Marion Sears Auto Center (at least nine jobs lost), Springfield Kmart #3767 (68 jobs lost), Fairborn Kmart (66 jobs lost), Solon Sears & Auto Center (at least 53 jobs lost). Also, Van Wert Sears franchise bought out by Kirk Berryman, owner of Computer & Networking Technologies (CNT), who plans on moving the store to a new location.

Oklahoma: Oklahoma City Sears (98 jobs lost, GGP owned, GGP wants a $2 million sales tax rebate, claiming it’s needed to offset capital investments needed to bring the space up to the standards for potential new tenants), Shawnee Sears (31 jobs lost), Sand Springs Kmart (52 jobs lost), Muskogee Sears (60 jobs lost), Enid Sears and Auto Center (at least 38 jobs lost).

Oregon: Roseburg Sears (at least 40 jobs lost), Tualatin Kmart Center (new property owner from California is tearing everything down for new shopping center, so far no indication the Kmart will be part of the new shopping center), Milwaukie Kmart (61 jobs lost), Coos Bay Kmart (25 jobs lost), Bend Sears (48 jobs lost), Klamath Falls Kmart (64 jobs lost), Albany Kmart (64 jobs lost), Portland Sears Homes Services (no notice), Albany Sears (57 jobs lost), in October a BBN reader warned that Oregon City Kmart was being quietly shutdown, confirmed on 06 November 2014 by Sears Holdings (70 jobs lost).

Pennsylvania: Upper Darby Sears Full line, Pottstown Sears Full line, Pittsburgh Kmart, Wilkins Sears, Warminster Kmart (85 jobs lost), Shippensburg Kmart (46 jobs lost), Moon Kmart (143 jobs lost), Bethlehem Township Kmart (62 jobs lost), Philadelphia Gallery Mall Kmart (120 jobs lost), Philadelphia Kmart on Orthodox Street and Castor Avenue (169 jobs lost), Levittown/Middle Township Kmart (87 jobs lost), Waynesboro Kmart (43 jobs lost), Sanatoga-Lower Pottsgrove Kmart (65 jobs lost, the store was also advertising for new hires!), West Mifflin Sears store & Auto Center (88 jobs lost), Rochester Kmart (78 jobs lost), Frazer (Pittsburg Mills Mall) Sears and Auto Center (97 jobs lost), Bloomsburg Sears (57 jobs lost), Frackville Sears and Auto Center (84 jobs lost), North Cornwall Township Sears (51 jobs lost), King of Prussia Sears and Auto Center (no word on number of jobs lost), Lebanon Sears (51 jobs lost), Scotland Chambersburg Mall Sears and Auto Center (62 jobs lost).

Puerto Rico: Vega Baja Kmart (# of jobs lost not reported).

South Carolina: Sumter Sears (at least 40 jobs lost), Orangeburg Sears (57 jobs lost), Columbia Kmart on Fort Jackson Boulevard in 2012, Columbia Kmart on Bush River Road in 2009, Columbia Kmart on St Andrews Road (66 jobs lost), Irmo Kmart (no info on how many jobs lost), both Greenville Kmarts (140 jobs lost between the two), Mount Pleasant Kmart (43 jobs lost), Harbison Sears & Sears Auto Center in the Columbiana Centre mall (97 jobs lost), Aiken Sears & Sears Auto Center (at least 54 jobs lost), Inlet Square Mall Kmart (50 jobs lost), West Ashely Kmart (69 jobs lost), Myrtle Beach Kmart (59 jobs lost), Easley Kmart (62 jobs lost).

Tennessee: Antioch Sears (at least 40 jobs lost), Cleveland Sears (at least 40 jobs lost), Oak Ridge Sears (at least 40 jobs lost), Hendersonville Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Morristown Sears (about 70 jobs lost), Clinton South Kmart, Franklin Cool Springs Galleria Sears (92 jobs lost), Memphis Hickory Ridge mall Sears (job loss data not revealed), 48 years old Nashville Kmart on Nolensville Pike to close by January 2014 (57 jobs lost), Franklin Kmart (33 jobs lost), Dickson Kmart (65 jobs lost), talks in progress to end lease for Bellevue (Nashville) Center Mall Sears.

Texas: Two Sears parts and repair centers closing in The Woodlands (117 jobs lost), rebuild center in Garland (58 jobs lost), Farmers Branch Sears/Great Indoors, Houston Sears Great/Indoors, Dallas Sears home appliance parts distribution center (77 jobs lost).

Utah: Murray Sears (for some reason Mormon controlled news media in Utah never reported the closure, but they reported that the building was demolished), Orem Kmart (no details reported), Woods Cross Kmart (54 jobs lost).

Vermont: Rutland Sears store & Auto Center (65 jobs lost).

Virginia: Norfolk Sears (at least 40 jobs lost), Midlothian Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Richmond Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Lynchburg Sears (84 jobs lost), Fairfax Kmart (no word on how many jobs lost), Christiansburg Sears (59 jobs lost), Norfolk Kmart on East Little Creek Road (77 jobs lost), Manassas Kmart (71 jobs lost), Stafford Sears Hometown, Newport News-Denbigh Kmart (at least 50 jobs lost), Wise Kmart (58 jobs lost), Harrisonburg Kmart (79 jobs lost), Wincester Kmart (91 jobs lost), Dale City Kmart (69 jobs lost), Chesapeake Sears and Auto Center (82 jobs lost), Front Royal Kmart (88 jobs lost).

Washington: Walla Walla Sears Full line (in August 2012, it was reported that an independent owner of Sears Hometown stores will open a store in Walla Walla), Lacey Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Kelso Sears (47 jobs lost), Lakewood Kmart (59 jobs lost), Bellingham Sears (92 jobs lost), Seattle Kmart (85 jobs lost), East Wenatchee Sears (59 jobs lost), Puyallup Kmart (51 jobs lost), Oak Harbor Kmart (68 jobs lost), Sodo Sears and Sears Auto Center (79 jobs lost), Everett Kmart (65 jobs lost), Marysville Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost).

West Virginia: Oak Hill Kmart (59 jobs lost), Morgantown Kmart (100 jobs lost), Bluefield Sears store & Auto Center (64 jobs lost).

Wisconsin: West Baraboo Sears (at least 40 jobs lost, local village officials say the store generated 3% of local tax collections), Rice Lake Kmart (about 71 jobs lost), Brookfield Kmart (56 jobs lost), Racine’s Regency Mall Sears (52 jobs lost), Fort Atkinson Kmart (51 jobs lost), Greenfield Kmart (107 jobs lost), Portage Kmart (78 jobs lost) and Hales Corner (129 jobs lost), Chippewa Falls Kmart (79 jobs lost), Menomonie Kmart (at least 50 jobs lost), Ashwaubenon Kmart recently revealed now owned by Green Bay Packers, will be torn down (80 jobs lost), Shawano Kmart (55 jobs lost), Fond du Lac Sears (42 jobs lost), Glendale Sears store & Auto Center (86 jobs lost), Janesville Kmart (70 jobs lost), Glendale Sears Rebuild center (67 jobs lost), Sheboygan Sears & Auto Center (at least 31 jobs lost), Eau Claire Kmart (93 jobs lost), Plymouth Kmart (59 jobs lost before Xmas), Sheboygan Sears Rebuild Center (30 jobs lost).

On top of that, Sears Holdings sold stores to General Growth Properties (GGP), of which it has been reported that most of those stores will be closed.

Here’s the list of 11 Sears stores now owned by GGP:

Iowa: Coral Ridge Mall (it’s official the Sears is closing, see above), and Mall of the Bluffs

Texas: The Woodlands Mall (this does not involve the two repair centers being closed by Sears)

Florida: West Oaks Mall

Utah: Fashion Place, and Provo Towne Centre (note the evil British empire way of spelling town & center. Due to a favorable lease agreement the GGP owned Provo Sears will continue to stay open under Sears Holdings management)

Oklahoma: Quail Springs Mall (it’s official, the Sears closed, see above)

Hawaii: Ala Moana Center (closed, see above)

Washington: Bellis Fair Mall (Bellingham store, see above)

Minnesota: Apache Mall (see update above, GGP will close Sears store by 2014)

Illinois: Market Place Shopping Center (see update above, GGP closing store)

Business/Economics, Idaho

U.S. Job Losses & Store Closings, 27 – 30 November 2014: “everything must go!” Iconic eastern Idaho hobbie shop up for sale!

Incomplete list of publicly announced layoffs & shutdowns:

California:  In Stockton, food processor Hormel announced they will shutdown their 65 years old chili and Dinty Moore beef stew factory in February 2015, at least 110 jobs lost! Company administrators blame the record level prices of beef for causing a 21% drop in profits!

Hawaii: After 93 years of name changes family owned “Cheap, cheap, cheap, plenty, plenty, plenty!” Pinky’s convenience store shutdown.   The owner says she has “other plans”.

Click pics to make bigger

Idaho: After 66 years Blackfoot Appliance & Furniture announced they will shutdown by the end of January 2015, “everything must go!” In Chubbuck, after 23 years the iconic local Dapco Hobbies now up for sale.  The current owner (not the friendly family owners that moved the shop to Chubbuck, Corey & Melia) is selling everything off and wants out of the hobby business.   Dapco Hobbies was originally located on Garrett Way in Pocatello (according to the BBB that was beginning in 1991), then, after Corey & Melia took over Dapco relocated to Chubbuck around 2007-08.  For a very brief time Dapco Hobbies had a shop in Ammon then Idaho Falls (apparently they left about the same time the ‘big box’ Hobby Town left Idaho Falls), and they even had an internet website.  They started out focused on trains, then shifted to RC when that got big.  I went there for the plastic model kits (and I still do although it’s looking empty, hope there’s somebody who can buy it and keep running it as a hobby shop).

Missouri: In Hannibal, after 34 years the owners of Artique Frame Palette announced they will shutdown in December.

New Jersey: After 86 years Garden State based Becker’s School Supplies shutting down six of its seven stores in Pennsylvania and Delaware! Apparently the school supplies company is shifting to internet sales only.

Texas:  In College Station, after 14 years La Bodega taco bar shutdown. The owner said they had to vacate the old decrepit building, and hopes to find a new location.

Washington: After 63 years A&J Meats and Seafood shutdown.

Wisconsin: After more than 25 years the owners of Golden Karat Jewelers in Rhinelander announced they will shutdown in January 2015.

23-26-november-2014: HP kills 41-thousand jobs!

The U.S. Department of Labor (DoL) doesn’t count the hundreds of layoffs involving less than 50 people each, in its mass layoff reports. It also doesn’t count all the little ‘mom & pop’ businesses that shutdown. It doesn’t count people who get a severance for being laid off.

Business/Economics, Idaho

U.S. Job Losses & Store Closings, 21 – 22 November 2014: “Any worker who loses their income will have an impact on the city!” Obamacare kills off government jobs in California!

Incomplete list of publicly announced layoffs & shutdowns:

Alpha Natural Resources announced at least 62 people laid off at their coal mine ops in Kentucky and West Virginia.

Arkansas: Little Rock based Windstream Communications announced another 350 layoffs, on top of the 400 layoffs earlier this year!  The company is undergoing radical change due to the suck-ass economy, including trying to become an evil REIT (real estate investment trust).

California: In Walnut Creek, Valley Waste Management issued a WARN saying 66 employees will be laid off in February 2015.  Boeing issued more WARNs saying another 181 employees across southern California will be laid off by January 2015!  In Van Nuys, Keaster Products issued a WARN saying they will shutdown at the end of December.  San Francisco based video game maker Double Fine laid off at least 12 employees, and cancelled work on its latest video game.  In Sacramento, the Golden State senate immediately laid off 39 of its own upper house employees.  Another 50 employees will be laid off through attrition.  Also, state employees will see at least a $30 per month increase in their health insurance payments, no thanks to Obama Care!

Connecticut: In Torrington, after more than 60 years the owner of children’s items store Reibman’s said she might shutdown in December.  The owner of the store also owns the building, and is jumping on the property development train.  She’s been trying to sell the building with no luck, so maybe she can rent it out?

Georgia: God refuses to stop Saint Francis Hospital from laying off 65 healthcare workers, suddenly. Administrators implied that reduced funding caused by Obama Care forced them to re-examine their ‘books’, during which they discovered they were $30-million USD short! Administrators admitted to employees that they “overestimated” expected payments.

Idaho: The mayor of American Falls reported that the local ALCO store was shutting down, he was alerted when he saw employees putting up the going out of business signs.  It’s one of five Idaho ALCO stores being shutdown (see Texas below). The American Falls mayor says his small city can’t afford more job losses: “Any worker who loses their income will have an impact on the city!”-Marc Beitia

Illinois: In Geneva, after 18 years women’s clothing store Sandra Webster shutdown.

Kentucky: In Louisville, after 33 years Gavi’s Restaurant shutdown.

Michigan: In Owosso, Planned Parenthood shutting down in December due to crashing federal funding.

Minnesota: God refuses to stop ‘his’ 60 years old Christian Book and Gift Store in Rochester from shutting down right after Xmas!

Ohio: In Mansfield, after 47 years Grantie’s Grinders (sub style sandwiches) shutdown, 11 jobs lost. The owners blame competition from a ‘big box’ sandwich shop that recently moved into the neighborhood.

Pennsylvania: Only four years after Swedish vehicle maker Volvo set up shop in Shippensburg, Volvo administrators revealed they will shutdown specific heavy construction vehicle production, not only in the U.S. but in Poland and Brazil, killing off at least 1-thousand jobs into 2015!    Mercyhurst University laid off 14 administrators and demoted six full time employees to part time. Other employees are taking pay cuts, it’s blamed on crashing enrollment.  In Muhlenburg, God refuses to stop’his’ Salvation Army Thrift Store from shutting down.  Administrators with the Queen of England controlled Salvation Army says the store has been losing money for years.

Tennessee: In West Knoxville Sonny’s BBQ shutdown.

Texas: After 113 years (surviving the Great deflationary Depression and numerous recessions) Coppell based ALCO (formerly known as Duckwall-ALCO) announced they will shutdown all 198 stores across the United States!

Vermont:  Vermont Technical College warned of layoffs due partly to the loss of 160 students over the past three years.

Washington: Too Big to Jail Union Bank announced they will shutdown 20 offices by March 2015.  Those offices once belonged to Frontier Bank (which failed).

West Virginia: Patriot Coal announced another 130 coal mining jobs lost!

20 november 2014: armed guards used to layoff employees!

The U.S. Department of Labor (DoL) doesn’t count the hundreds of layoffs involving less than 50 people each, in its mass layoff reports. It also doesn’t count all the little ‘mom & pop’ businesses that shutdown. It doesn’t count people who get a severance for being laid off.

Business/Economics

Sears & Kmart update, 21 January 2015: Sex Trafficking & Property Deals! Sears Holdings is not your daddy’s Sears!

The slow death of Sears and Kmart is a sign of a fundamental, and possibly irreversible change in the once ‘great’ society of the United States of America.

A man who works for evil finance institutions Morgan Stanley, Crédit Suisse and Goldman Sachs (Simeon Gutman) has already announced who will benefit from the death of Sears and Kmart.   Apparently electronics store Best Buy would benefit most, followed by home improvement stores Home Depot and Lowe’s.

It should be noted that Crédit Suisse has been the most vocal in claiming Sears Holdings is already dead.   But it turns out the main motivation of these financial investment institutions is real estate.  In my tracking of the housing market debacle it’s become clear to me that the main reason for the artificially created property market crash is so property speculators, mainly REITs (Real Estate Investment Trusts) can get their hands on a lot of properties real cheap and even get taxpayers to fund the rebuilding projects, in other words it’s the classic Snidely scheme.  (read: “Everybody wants a better outcome, everybody but the landlords.” and The biggest Scam in U.S. History and Snidely the illegal forecloser returns)

One of the driving motivations for Eddie Lampert and the vulture capitalists who created Sears Holdings is to shutdown stores only to carve up them up into smaller commercial spaces, or to lease them out to competitors (they can actually make more money that way).  For the properties they don’t own Sears Holdings has actually been making millions by getting the property owners to end lease agreements early!

This brings me to my next point that Sears and Kmart are not your parent’s Sears and Kmart.  I’ve read commentaries which boast that Sears has come back from disaster before.  That was not the same Sears.  I’ve recently read articles about Sears out of Washington state in which the author still refers to Sears as “Sears Roebuck”.  Sears Roebuck died in 2005!   Today’s Sears-Kmart is controlled by a company created by Mitt Romney-Bain Capital  style vulture capitalist known as Eddie Lampert.

Sears Holdings was created in 2005, after Kmart emerged from bankruptcy in 2003 (newly named Kmart Holdings) and suddenly took over Sears.   This was accomplished easily because the controlling stockholders of both retailers were actually on the same team!

Eddie Lampert, the man driving Sears Holdings now was also the man driving the newly created Kmart Holdings in 2003 (via his ESL Investments fund)!  In other words Sears Holdings was known for a short two years as Kmart Holdings.

Many analysts have stated that the way Lampert has been running Sears Holdings will destroy the company, it now looks intentional: “The way it’s being managed, it doesn’t work. They’re going to continue to deteriorate.”-Mary Ross Gilbert, Imperial Capital

Are Lampert and his cronies capable of bullshit?  Eddie Lampert worked for evil Goldman Sachs (that should be proof enough).  In 2003 Lampert was kidnapped, and claimed that his kidnappers said they were hired by AutoZone executives to kill him!  Lampert was also the largest stockholder in AutoZone, and an executive director at the time!  The FBI concluded that Lampert’s story about AutoZone executives trying to kill him was bullshit: “The AutoZone story was just a hoax.”-unnamed investgator

But there was a result; the president of AutoZone resigned and guess who took over?  Eddie Lampert!  AutoZone has been documented to use prison labor. 

In other signs of Failed State decadence, increasingly many Kmarts have been the sites of crimes including murder.  Another despicable crime involves the sex trafficking of teenagers in Tennessee.  A man described as an up and coming rapper has just been sentenced to 10 years in federal prison after being convicted of selling a 14 years old girl that he met at a Raleigh Kmart in 2013.

Today’s Sear-Kmart is not your daddy’s Sears and Kmart!

20 JANUARY 2015: ANOTHER KMART GOING DOWN!

Selling fake jewelry?

admits stock market shenanigans!

Executive officer involved with killing off other retailers?

screws over Goodyear for at least $20-million?

Catholics, Mormons & Jews conspiring

Sears stores leased to Ireland!

Store leases worth more than the stores themselves! 

 

 

 

Business/Economics

U.S. Job Losses & Store Closings, 20 November 2014: “We found ourselves with our backs against the wall” Skincare center calls in armed guards to layoff employees!

Incomplete list of publicly announced layoffs & shutdowns:

International based “Free daily newspaper” Metro.US laid off five employees in New York, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts.

Alabama: Boeing issued a WARN saying employees will be laid off at their Huntsville NASA ops in January 2015.

Indiana: Shopko issued a WARN saying it will shutdown their Lebanon distribution center. The shutdown will be completed by September 2015, 95 to 100 jobs lost!

Kentucky:  In Ashland, after only two years the Lamp Post Cafe shutdown with little notice, the lease was not renewed at the last moment, the owners blame the bad economy: “We’re two years into it and it is a tough economy. While we’ve certainly been moving forward, we are a victim of the economy. We found ourselves with our backs against the wall….Our first winter, the electric bill just about killed us…”-Shane Fields

Massachusetts: Framingham based Mitt Romney wunderkind Staples announced the shutdown of 170 North American stores, I’m not sure if this is part of, or, on top of its previous list of 225 that will be shutdown by mid 2015!  More proof the internet isn’t killing off brick-n-mortars. TV through the internet service provider Aereo now chapter 11 bankrupt busted, it’s blamed on lack of funding and a federal court order preventing the company from streaming specific TV shows.

Michigan: Without warning American Laser Skincare (formerly known as American Laser Centers) shutdown all 136 operations in 25 states and Puerto Rico, at least 1-thousand jobs lost! Some employees reported they were threatened by armed security guards that they had less than two hours to get all their gear and vacate the premises!  Many customers pre-paid for skincare services worth thousands of dollars, and will not be getting refunds! The Northeast California Branch of the Better Business Bureau says customers are screwed: “To say it doesn’t happen would be a misnomer. We see it with gyms, cosmetic surgery, all kinds of stuff. There’s been a big recession, and a lot of people [companies] are financially unstable, and you don’t really know about their financial condition. We’ve had people pay them like the day before they closed their doors.”-Gary Almond

In order to cut costs due to reduced payments caused by Obama Care, Holland Hospital laid off all their in-house language interpreters.  The Detroit Free Press warned of layoffs, to take place before U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, and again before the western Christian Xmas holiday (which is at a different time than eastern Christian Xmas). The newspaper is owned by Gannet, which is also killing off jobs at other newspapers around the U.S.

Missouri: Belgium-Brazil owned beer brewer Anheuser-Busch admitted to laying off employees at its Saint Louis brewery, but refused to give a number.  Anheuser-Busch also shutdown its U.S. Busch Media Group.  HVAC maker Nordyne announced it will complete its shutdown of two factories by June 2015, at least 700 jobs lost!

New York: In Brooklyn, after only a year the owner of Marco’s restaurant announced it will shutdown in December. The owner says the profits weren’t high enough to cover operating costs.  In NYC, reports that The New York Times will kill off even more news gathering jobs, via the bribing of at least 100 employees with  “buyouts”!  Warnings that British empire United Kingdom based Reuters will layoff news staff in NYC.  Thompson Reuters says they’re news division has lost $79-million USD in its last quarter!

Pennsylvania: After 13  years Endless Mountains Quiltworks shutdown due to family health problems.

Vermont: The Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant announced it will  shutdown at the end of 2014.  165 employees to become jobless, while 316 will remain for the decommissioning process until the end of 2016!  At one point 625 people were employed!

17-19 november 2014: Cargill & Walmart join exodus from Canada

The U.S. Department of Labor (DoL) doesn’t count the hundreds of layoffs involving less than 50 people each, in its mass layoff reports. It also doesn’t count all the little ‘mom & pop’ businesses that shutdown. It doesn’t count people who get a severance for being laid off.

Business/Economics

Sears & Kmart closing update, 20 January 2015: Another Sears going down!

It’s been revealed that the Cherry Creek, Colorado, Sears will be replaced with apartments and smaller retail shops.

update 19 January 2015: Exodus?

Here’s the updated list of U.S. Sears/Kmart store closings that I’ve been compiling since the end of 2011:

Arizona: Scottsdale Sears/Great Indoors, Chandler Sears/Great Indoors.

Alabama: Gadsden Kmart (50 jobs lost), Mobile Sears (at least 40 jobs lost), Auburn Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Anniston Kmart (no word yet on how many jobs lost), Birmingham Eastwood Kmart (70 jobs lost), Decatur Mall Sears (91 jobs lost), Fort Payne Kmart, Northport Kmart (68 jobs lost), Dothan Sears (68 jobs lost), Huntsville Kmart (73 jobs lost).

California: El Monte Sears (at least 40 jobs lost. Damien Arrula, El Monte’s economic development director, said the store manager had lied about what was going on: “The general manager of the store had just indicated to me that they were remodeling.”), two San Diego Sears (more than 80 jobs lost), Pleasant Hill Kmart (more than 50 jobs lost), Torrance Kmart, Fairfield Kmart (63 jobs lost), Lampert owned OSH taken over by Lowe’s home improvement in bankruptcy court, at least 17 of 99 stores to be closed down (935 jobs lost!), Rancho Cordova Kmart (97 jobs lost), San Clemente Kmart/Sears/Kmart on Camino de Estrella (58 jobs lost), placed on an official hit list in 2011 the Oceanside Kmart on College Boulevard finally being shut down, Banning Kmart (91 jobs lost) recently revealed that Sears Holdings is still paying rent on the abandoned property, Laguna Hills Mall Sears, San Diego Mid-City Kmart (73 jobs lost), Hemet Kmart (77 jobs lost), Oakland Sears repair center (75 jobs lost), San Mateo Kmart (82 jobs lost to an apartment building connected to public transportation), Hesperia Kmart building sold at a loss to a vulture capitalist REIT, no word on if the Kmart will be shutdown. Customers complain that the Kmart employees have a bad attitude, gee I wonder why? Yuba City Kmart (63 jobs lost), Rocklin Kmart (at least 63 jobs lost, the store had just posted “Now Hiring” signs), San Leandro Kmart (102 jobs lost), San Jose Mercury News says the El Centro Kmart to shutdown in January, the website Foursquare says the Covina Kmart is now shutdown (other sources say it will shutdown in December), Cupertino Sears and Auto Center (number of employees affected not made public, no WARN filed), somebody posted on yelp* that the Diamond Bar Kmart was shutting down in December (confirmed by Armijo Newspapers).

Colorado: Broomfield Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Glenwood Springs Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Lone Tree Sears/Great Indoors, Longmont Sears (at least 40 jobs lost), Pueblos’ South Side Kmart (52 jobs lost), Denver Kmart (number of jobs lost have not been made public at this time, but could be at least 40), Colorado Springs Kmart at Powers and Palmer Park boulevards (57 jobs lost), Fort Collins Sears (67 jobs lost), Denver-Cherry Creek North Sears store & Auto Center (66 jobs lost).

Connecticut: Waterbury Big Kmart, Torrington Kmart (73 jobs lost), Enfield Sears Optical (no word on jobs lost).

Delaware: Dover Kmart (at least 72 jobs lost, some reports said 100), Seaford Sears (30 jobs lost), Claymont Kmart (87 jobs lost).

Florida: Fernandina Beach Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Callaway Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Orange City Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Deland Sears (at least 40 jobs lost), Stuart Sears (at least 40 jobs lost), West Palm Beach Sears (at least 40 jobs lost), Port St. Lucie Sears (at least 40 jobs lost), Crystal River Sears (at least 40 jobs lost), New Smyrna Beach Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Saint Augustine Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Pompano Beach Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Jacksonville Kmart on 5751 Beach Boulevard (71 jobs lost), second Kmart in Jacksonville on 4645 Blanding Boulevard (83 jobs lost), Ocoee Sears (102 jobs lost), Pensacola Kmart on Airport Boulevard closed in 2011, Pensacola Kmart on Mobile Highway closed in February 2013 (69 jobs lost), Pensacola Kmart on East 9 Mile Road will close in May (73 jobs lost), Hialeah Kmart (67 jobs lost), Bonita Springs Kmart (67 jobs lost), Mount Dora Kmart (100 jobs lost), Lake Mary Kmart, Panama City Beach Kmart (54 jobs lost), Winter Park Kmart (100 jobs lost), Niceville Kmart (59 jobs lost), Winter Haven Kmart (92 jobs lost), Palm Bay Kmart, Oakland Park Kmart (112 jobs lost), Clearwater Sears Auto Center (21 jobs lost), Zephyrhills Kmart (70 jobs lost), Winter Springs Kmart (69 jobs lost), Naples Kmart (72 jobs lost), New Port Richey Kmart (58 jobs lost), ‘redevelopment’ of Aventura Sears & Auto Center into an “open-air village” (unknown how many jobs affected).

Georgia: Macon Sears (at least 40 jobs lost), Buford Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Douglasville Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Atlanta Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Columbus Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Jonesboro Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Cartersville Kmart (74 jobs lost), Hiram Kmart (53 jobs lost), Marietta-East Cobb Kmart, Warner Robins Kmart (77 jobs lost), Coweta County Kmart distribution center (164 jobs lost).

Guam: Sears Hometown Store.

Hawaii: Honolulu Sears (owned by GGP, 372 jobs lost! GGP spending $573-million chopping it up into smaller store spaces), Kauai Sears (41 jobs lost), Iwilei-Honolulu Kmart for lease (no confirmation of store closing).

Idaho: Lewiston Sears (at least 60 jobs lost), Rexburg Kmart (63 jobs lost), Chubbuck Pine Ridge Mall Sears shutdown by the end of October/beginning of November 2014 (the remaining 28 jobs lost). Across the street, in Pocatello, the property where the Kmart is located has a “pad site available” sign, posted ever since the Kmart bankruptcy. The Kmart building takes up most of the ‘pad’. Latest news from inside sources say Sears Holdings will not comment on any plans to expand the small amount of Craftsman products already being sold at the Kmart, or shift the Kenmore products line, from the closing Chubbuck Sears to the Pocatello Kmart. In fact all plans for the Pokey Kmart are in a ‘holding pattern’.

Illinois: Alton Sears (at least 40 jobs lost), Melrose Park Sears parts and repair center (50 jobs lost), Zion Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Oak Lawn Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), McHenry Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Peru Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Lombard Sears/Great Indoors (at least 40 jobs lost), Fairview Heights Kmart (81 jobs lost), Freeport Kmart (45 jobs lost), Pontiac Kmart (more than 47 jobs lost), Homer Glen Kmart (82 jobs lost), Streator Kmart (45 jobs lost), Lombard Kmart (70 jobs lost), Naperville Kmart (98 jobs lost), Calumet Sears (164 jobs lost), two Sears stores in Grand Crossing area of Chicago (247 jobs lost!), Mount Vernon Sears (68 jobs lost), Moline Sears (at least 60 jobs lost), Homewood Kmart (185 jobs lost), Belvidere Kmart (91 jobs lost?) revealed is now a perpetual closing sale Kmart At A Discount store, Champaign’s Market Place Mall Sears (56 jobs lost), Sterling Kmart (60 jobs lost), Montgomery Kmart (81 jobs lost), Mattoon Sears (more than 40 jobs lost), Chicago Sears on North State Street (160 jobs lost), Chicago Sears Craftsman Experience store, Galesburg Sears (46 jobs lost), White Lake Township Kmart (42 jobs lost), Orland Park Sears Appliance, Collinsville Kmart (84 jobs lost), Crystal Lake Kmart (at least 77 jobs lost), Danville Sears store & Auto Center (63 jobs lost), Forsyth Sears store & Auto Center (45 jobs lost), Peoria Kmart (73 jobs lost), Forest Park Kmart (107 jobs lost), Chicago Sears on North and Harlem avenues, supposedly it’s being replaced (most likely at taxpayer expense) with a new building and it will become a Sears-Mariano’s store, Bloomington Kmart (79 jobs lost). 58 Chicago area stores up for lease or sale. By the way, Illinois elected officials gave Sears Holdings/Hoffman Estates a $150 million USD tax break to keep their headquarters in the state. The tax break was not tied to any promise not to close stores.

Indiana: Anderson Sears (at least 40 jobs lost), Saint John Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Indianapolis Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Richmond Sears (49 jobs lost), South Anthony Kmart (70 jobs lost), Fort Wayne Kmart on South Anthony Boulevard (70 jobs lost), FairOaks Mall Kmart, Logansport Sears (43 jobs lost), Muncie Kmart (59 jobs lost), Fort Wayne Kmart on Coliseum Boulevard North (69 jobs lost), Decatur Kmart (49 jobs lost), Indianapolis Kmart on Madison Avenue (131 jobs lost), Indianapolis Kmart on Washington Street (139 jobs lost), Bedford Kmart (62 jobs lost), Indianapolis (Evansville) Sears & Auto Center at Washington Square Mall (91 jobs lost), Greenwood Kmart (78 jobs lost).

Iowa: Cedar Rapids Kmart on 16th Ave (at least 40 jobs lost), Davenport Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Burlington Kmart (50 jobs lost), Coralville Sears (94 jobs lost, this is a store sold to GGP earlier in the year), Cedar Rapids Kmart on Collins Road NE (56 jobs lost), Mason City Kmart (50 jobs lost), Clive Kmart (at least 49 jobs lost), Ames Kmart (44 jobs lost), Fort Dodge Sears (no job loss numbers made public, yet. The Auto Center was secretly shutdown in September).

Kansas: Lawrence Sears (at least 40 jobs lost), Merriam Kmart-then Sears-then Kmart (jobs lost unknown), Wichita Sears store & Auto Center (103 jobs lost), Manhattan Sears & Auto Center (number of jobs lost were never revealed).

Kentucky: Middlesboro Sears (in September 2012 the Sears store re-opened under independent ownership, official grand re-opening scheduled for November), Winchester Kmart (back in May, Rankin Paynter bought out what was left of the inventory and gave it to charity), Hazard Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Lexington Fayette Mall Sears (114 jobs lost!), Newport Kmart (81 jobs lost), Cannonsburg Sears and Sears Auto Center (no employee info given), Louisville Dixie Highway Kmart/Sears/Kmart, Madisonville Kmart (39 jobs lost), Owensboro Sears store & Auto Center (52 jobs lost).

Louisiana: Slidell Sears (77 job lost), Gretna Kmart (94 jobs lost), Metairie Kmart secretly sold off, no word if it will be shutdown.

Maine: Lewiston Sears (60 to 70 jobs lost), Presque Isle Aroostook Centre Mall Sears (63 jobs lost).

Maryland: Ellicott Sears (at least 40 jobs lost), Gaithersburg Sears/Great Indoors, Landover Sears rebuild & call center (115 jobs lost), Baltimore Kmart on Wabash Avenue (107 jobs lost).

Massachusetts: North Reading Sears Hardware store closed, lease not renewed, Milford Kmart (80 jobs lost), Kingston Kmart (73 jobs lost).

Michigan: Novi Sears/Great Indoors, Brighton Sears Grand/Essentials, Harper Woods Sears Full line, Monroe Sears Full line, Adrian Sears Full line, Washington Township Kmart, Chesterfield Kmart, Woodhaven Kmart, Saginaw Kmart on Bay Road, Flint Kmart on Dort Highway (46 jobs lost), Gaylord Kmart (48 jobs lost), Sterling Kmart (58 jobs lost), Bloomfield Township Kmart and Sears, Bad Axe Kmart (61 jobs lost), Ypsilanti Township Kmart (83 jobs lost), Petoskey Kmart (45 jobs lost), Saint John’s Kmart (48 jobs lost), White Lake Township “Store of the Future” Kmart (42 jobs lost), Grand Blanc Kmart (49 jobs lost), Lapeer Kmart (56 jobs lost), Southgate Kmart (155 jobs lost), Detroit’s Telegraph Road Kmart (115 jobs lost), Waterford Township Sears (no word on how many jobs lost), Rochester Hills Kmart (77 jobs lost), ‘perfect Kmart town’ of Port Huron Kmart (188 jobs lost), Flint Kmart on Miller Road (81 jobs lost), Burton Kmart (85 jobs lost), Madison Heights Kmart (179 jobs lost), it’s now obvious the last remaining Saginaw Kmart will remain shutdown after its roof collapsed during a snowstorm back in January 2014, Ann Arbor Kmart (59 jobs lost), Iron Mountain Kmart (54 jobs lost), Bangor Township Sears aka Bay City Mall Sears, the Auto Center was already secretly shutdown some time ago (at least 47 jobs lost), Big Rapids Kmart (about 50 jobs lost).

Minnesota: Willmar Kmart, Duluth Kmart, New Hope Kmart, White Bear Lake Kmart, Bemidji Kmart, Monticello Kmart, GGP owned Sears Auto Center in the Apache Mall closed (10 jobs lost), the entire Sears store in the Apache Mall being sold off, Fergus Falls Kmart (40 jobs lost), Fergus Falls Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Alexandria Kmart (46 jobs lost), Grand Rapids Kmart (61 jobs lost), Seritage is selling off three Sears Auto Centers in Minnetonka, Brooklyn Center and Saint Paul, Marshall Kmart (57 jobs lost), Oakdale Kmart (77 hourly wage employees losing their jobs, unknown how many salaried employees will become unemployed), Winona Kmart (67 jobs lost), Minneapolis city officials trying to shutdown profit making Nicollet Avenue Kmart, to make way for a new road. Anoka Kmart (47 jobs lost), Blaine Kmart (60 jobs lost), Burnsville Kmart (62 jobs lost), Waite Park Kmart (57 jobs lost), Northeast Minneapolis Sears Hometown & Outlet store now for sale, Coon Rapids Sears Hometown & Outlet store now for sale.

Mississippi: Jackson Sears Full line, McComb Sears Full line, Columbus Sears Full line, Gautier Sears (71 jobs lost), Waveland Gulfport Kmart (32 jobs lost), Pass Road Gulfport Kmart (52 jobs lost), Pascagoula Sears at the Singing River Mall, Olive Branch distribution center (unknown how many jobs lost).

Missouri: Lee’s Summit Sears Grand/Essentials, Saint Louis Sears Full line, High Ridge Kmart (59 jobs lost), Ellisville Kmart (55 jobs lost), Springfield Kmart on South Campbell Avenue (60 jobs lost), South Belt Kmart (64 jobs lost), Florissant Kmart (100 jobs lost).

Montana: Missoula Kmart (50 jobs lost), Great Falls Kmart (closed “until further notice” due to fire, 63 jobs on hold), Great Falls Sears store & Auto Center (65 jobs lost) due to great sales (ironically) the shutdown date has been moved from 07 December 2014 to 23 November, Bozeman Kmart (37 jobs lost).

Nebraska: Grand Island Kmart (55 jobs lost), Omaha Kmart near West Maple Road (50 jobs lost).

Nevada: Sparks Kmart distribution center (100 jobs lost).

New Hampshire: Nashau Sears Grand/Essentials, Keene Sears Grand/Essentials, Portsmouth Kmart (30 jobs lost), Claremont Kmart (59 jobs lost).

New Jersey: Lawnside Kmart (about 80 jobs lost), Howell Kmart (57 jobs lost), Berlin Kmart, Dover Kmart (92 jobs lost), Randolf Kmart (91 jobs lost), Paramus Kmart (74 jobs lost).

New Mexico: Las Cruces Kmart (58 jobs lost), Albuquerque Kmart on Central SW (80 jobs lost), Rio Rancho Kmart (59 jobs lost).

New York: Depew (Lancaster?) Kmart (68 jobs lost), Colonie Kmart (72 jobs lost), Fulton Kmart (51 jobs lost), Clifton Park Kmart (74 jobs lost), Latham Kmart (61 jobs lost), East Greenbush-Rensselaer Kmart (70 jobs lost), Tonawanda Sears Appliance and Hardware, Bronx Sears (91 jobs lost), BBN reader reported that the Ithaca Sears and Auto Center shutdown and one month later it’s been officially confirmed (at least 37 jobs lost), DeWitt Kmart (92 jobs lost), Auburn Sears (51 jobs lost), Massena Sears and Auto Center (51 jobs lost).

North Carolina: Cary Kmart (71 jobs lost), High Point Sears, Moorehead Sears, Rocky Mount Sears, Statesville Sears, Durham Kmart (79 jobs lost), Asheville Kmart (53 jobs lost), West Smithfield Kmart (59 jobs lost), Winston-Salem Kmart (69 jobs lost), Hendersonville Kmart (58 jobs lost), South Ashville Kmart on Hendersonville Road, Raleigh Kmart (88 jobs lost), Garner Kmart, Cleveland County mall Sears (56 jobs lost), Charlotte Kmart (89 jobs lost), Conover Kmart (74 jobs lost), Raleigh Kmart on Capital Boulevard (53 jobs lost), High Point Kmart (71 jobs lost), Boone Kmart (41 jobs lost), Greensboro Kmart (96 jobs lost), Gastonia Sears store & Auto Center (65 jobs lost), Kinston Kmart (64 jobs lost), Cary Sears (66 jobs lost), Greensboro Kmart distribution center (130 jobs lost).

North Dakota: Jamestown Kmart (45 jobs lost), Dickinson Kmart (41 jobs lost, despite a “Now Hiring” sign on the front of the store).

Ohio: Chagrin Falls Kmart, Springfield Kmart, two Toledo Kmarts, Medina Kmart, Columbus Kmart, Columbus Sears/Great Indoors, Zanesville Sears (67 jobs lost), Trotwood Kmart (71 jobs lost), Austintown Sears auto parts and service on Interstate Boulevard, London Kmart (no word on number of jobs lost), Trotwood Sears (67 jobs lost), Westlake Kmart/Sears (at least 57 jobs lost), Xenia Kmart (at least 57 jobs lost), Norwalk Kmart (52 jobs lost), Blue Ash Kmart (77 jobs lost), Northwood Sears at Woodville Mall (36 jobs lost), Conneaut Kmart (43 jobs lost), Anderson Township Kmart (71 jobs lost), Brooklyn Kmart (200 jobs lost), Columbus Lockbourne Industrial Parkway Sears distribution center (200 jobs lost), also in Columbus, Sears Product Rebuild-Call Center (112 jobs lost), Marion Sears Auto Center (at least nine jobs lost), Springfield Kmart #3767 (68 jobs lost), Fairborn Kmart (66 jobs lost), Solon Sears & Auto Center (at least 53 jobs lost). Also, Van Wert Sears franchise bought out by Kirk Berryman, owner of Computer & Networking Technologies (CNT), who plans on moving the store to a new location.

Oklahoma: Oklahoma City Sears (98 jobs lost, GGP owned, GGP wants a $2 million sales tax rebate, claiming it’s needed to offset capital investments needed to bring the space up to the standards for potential new tenants), Shawnee Sears (31 jobs lost), Sand Springs Kmart (52 jobs lost), Muskogee Sears (60 jobs lost), Enid Sears and Auto Center (at least 38 jobs lost).

Oregon: Roseburg Sears (at least 40 jobs lost), Tualatin Kmart Center (new property owner from California is tearing everything down for new shopping center, so far no indication the Kmart will be part of the new shopping center), Milwaukie Kmart (61 jobs lost), Coos Bay Kmart (25 jobs lost), Bend Sears (48 jobs lost), Klamath Falls Kmart (64 jobs lost), Albany Kmart (64 jobs lost), Portland Sears Homes Services (no notice), Albany Sears (57 jobs lost), in October a BBN reader warned that Oregon City Kmart was being quietly shutdown, confirmed on 06 November 2014 by Sears Holdings (70 jobs lost).

Pennsylvania: Upper Darby Sears Full line, Pottstown Sears Full line, Pittsburgh Kmart, Wilkins Sears, Warminster Kmart (85 jobs lost), Shippensburg Kmart (46 jobs lost), Moon Kmart (143 jobs lost), Bethlehem Township Kmart (62 jobs lost), Philadelphia Gallery Mall Kmart (120 jobs lost), Philadelphia Kmart on Orthodox Street and Castor Avenue (169 jobs lost), Levittown/Middle Township Kmart (87 jobs lost), Waynesboro Kmart (43 jobs lost), Sanatoga-Lower Pottsgrove Kmart (65 jobs lost, the store was also advertising for new hires!), West Mifflin Sears store & Auto Center (88 jobs lost), Rochester Kmart (78 jobs lost), Frazer (Pittsburg Mills Mall) Sears and Auto Center (97 jobs lost), Bloomsburg Sears (57 jobs lost), Frackville Sears and Auto Center (84 jobs lost), North Cornwall Township Sears (51 jobs lost), King of Prussia Sears and Auto Center (no word on number of jobs lost), Lebanon Sears (51 jobs lost), Scotland Chambersburg Mall Sears and Auto Center (62 jobs lost).

Puerto Rico: Vega Baja Kmart (# of jobs lost not reported).

South Carolina: Sumter Sears (at least 40 jobs lost), Orangeburg Sears (57 jobs lost), Columbia Kmart on Fort Jackson Boulevard in 2012, Columbia Kmart on Bush River Road in 2009, Columbia Kmart on St Andrews Road (66 jobs lost), Irmo Kmart (no info on how many jobs lost), both Greenville Kmarts (140 jobs lost between the two), Mount Pleasant Kmart (43 jobs lost), Harbison Sears & Sears Auto Center in the Columbiana Centre mall (97 jobs lost), Aiken Sears & Sears Auto Center (at least 54 jobs lost), Inlet Square Mall Kmart (50 jobs lost), West Ashely Kmart (69 jobs lost), Myrtle Beach Kmart (59 jobs lost), Easley Kmart (62 jobs lost).

Tennessee: Antioch Sears (at least 40 jobs lost), Cleveland Sears (at least 40 jobs lost), Oak Ridge Sears (at least 40 jobs lost), Hendersonville Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Morristown Sears (about 70 jobs lost), Clinton South Kmart, Franklin Cool Springs Galleria Sears (92 jobs lost), Memphis Hickory Ridge mall Sears (job loss data not revealed), 48 years old Nashville Kmart on Nolensville Pike to close by January 2014 (57 jobs lost), Franklin Kmart (33 jobs lost), Dickson Kmart (65 jobs lost), talks in progress to end lease for Bellevue (Nashville) Center Mall Sears.

Texas: Two Sears parts and repair centers closing in The Woodlands (117 jobs lost), rebuild center in Garland (58 jobs lost), Farmers Branch Sears/Great Indoors, Houston Sears Great/Indoors, Dallas Sears home appliance parts distribution center (77 jobs lost).

Utah: Murray Sears (for some reason Mormon controlled news media in Utah never reported the closure, but they reported that the building was demolished), Orem Kmart (no details reported), Woods Cross Kmart (54 jobs lost).

Vermont: Rutland Sears store & Auto Center (65 jobs lost).

Virginia: Norfolk Sears (at least 40 jobs lost), Midlothian Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Richmond Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Lynchburg Sears (84 jobs lost), Fairfax Kmart (no word on how many jobs lost), Christiansburg Sears (59 jobs lost), Norfolk Kmart on East Little Creek Road (77 jobs lost), Manassas Kmart (71 jobs lost), Stafford Sears Hometown, Newport News-Denbigh Kmart (at least 50 jobs lost), Wise Kmart (58 jobs lost), Harrisonburg Kmart (79 jobs lost), Wincester Kmart (91 jobs lost), Dale City Kmart (69 jobs lost), Chesapeake Sears and Auto Center (82 jobs lost), Front Royal Kmart (88 jobs lost).

Washington: Walla Walla Sears Full line (in August 2012, it was reported that an independent owner of Sears Hometown stores will open a store in Walla Walla), Lacey Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost), Kelso Sears (47 jobs lost), Lakewood Kmart (59 jobs lost), Bellingham Sears (92 jobs lost), Seattle Kmart (85 jobs lost), East Wenatchee Sears (59 jobs lost), Puyallup Kmart (51 jobs lost), Oak Harbor Kmart (68 jobs lost), Sodo Sears and Sears Auto Center (79 jobs lost), Everett Kmart (65 jobs lost), Marysville Kmart (at least 40 jobs lost).

West Virginia: Oak Hill Kmart (59 jobs lost), Morgantown Kmart (100 jobs lost), Bluefield Sears store & Auto Center (64 jobs lost).

Wisconsin: West Baraboo Sears (at least 40 jobs lost, local village officials say the store generated 3% of local tax collections), Rice Lake Kmart (about 71 jobs lost), Brookfield Kmart (56 jobs lost), Racine’s Regency Mall Sears (52 jobs lost), Fort Atkinson Kmart (51 jobs lost), Greenfield Kmart (107 jobs lost), Portage Kmart (78 jobs lost) and Hales Corner (129 jobs lost), Chippewa Falls Kmart (79 jobs lost), Menomonie Kmart (at least 50 jobs lost), Ashwaubenon Kmart recently revealed now owned by Green Bay Packers, will be torn down (80 jobs lost), Shawano Kmart (55 jobs lost), Fond du Lac Sears (42 jobs lost), Glendale Sears store & Auto Center (86 jobs lost), Janesville Kmart (70 jobs lost), Glendale Sears Rebuild center (67 jobs lost), Sheboygan Sears & Auto Center (at least 31 jobs lost), Eau Claire Kmart (93 jobs lost), Plymouth Kmart (59 jobs lost before Xmas), Sheboygan Sears Rebuild Center (30 jobs lost).

On top of that, Sears Holdings sold stores to General Growth Properties (GGP), of which it has been reported that most of those stores will be closed.

Here’s the list of 11 Sears stores now owned by GGP:

Iowa: Coral Ridge Mall (it’s official the Sears is closing, see above), and Mall of the Bluffs

Texas: The Woodlands Mall (this does not involve the two repair centers being closed by Sears)

Florida: West Oaks Mall

Utah: Fashion Place, and Provo Towne Centre (note the evil British empire way of spelling town & center. Due to a favorable lease agreement the GGP owned Provo Sears will continue to stay open under Sears Holdings management)

Oklahoma: Quail Springs Mall (it’s official, the Sears closed, see above)

Hawaii: Ala Moana Center (closed, see above)

Washington: Bellis Fair Mall (Bellingham store, see above)

Minnesota: Apache Mall (see update above, GGP will close Sears store by 2014)

Illinois: Market Place Shopping Center (see update above, GGP closing store)

Business/Economics, Idaho

U.S. Job Losses & Store Closings, 17 – 19 November 2014: “I can’t believe I’m turning into one of your sad stories…” Cargill & Walmart join exodus from Canada? More call centers go down!

Incomplete list of publicly announced layoffs & shutdowns:

Arkansas: Bentonville based Walmart revealed it eliminated 210 jobs at its Ontario, Canada, office!  The latest round of layoffs are on top of 750 revealed earlier this Spring!

California: In Auberry, the Wish-I-Ah Healthcare & Wellness Center ordered shutdown by state health administrators who declared the nursing home to be posing “immediate and serious risks” to the paitents, at least 95 jobs lost.  Sears Holdings announced they will shutdown the Yuba City Kmart in December, 63 jobs lost.  In Auburn, after 38 years Lou La Bonite’s restaurant shutdown. In San Diego, Science Application International issued a WARN saying they will eliminate 63 jobs by February 2015.   San Diego based Pizzeria Mozza shutdown their new Seaport District restaurant, and canceled all upcoming pizza making classes: “Sadly, the gospel of Mozza pizza did not adequately spread to the people of San Diego. We regret that we will not be able to continue to serve the community there…”-company statement

Colorado: In Leadville, after 135 years (surviving the Great deflationary Depression and numerous recessions) God refuses to stop the shutdown of Christian founded Saint Vincent Hospital. Perhaps because of reduced payments caused by Obama Care, the administrators say they cannot afford to fix the broken heating system.

Idaho: In Boise, after 73 years Molenaar Jewelers announced a going out of business sale, the owner was unable to find a buyer for the business which will shutdown in Janaury 2015.  Also in Boise, a year after taking over Boise Paper (aka Boise Inc) for $1.27-billion USD, Packaging Corporation of America issued a WARN saying they will shutdown the Boise location by March 2015, at least 152 jobs lost!

Florida:  Orlando based Darden Restaurants killed 85 jobs (60 filled, 25 vacant positions) at its HQ. Darden operates Olive Garden and Longhorn Steakhouse. Company administrators say the skyrocketing price of food (like beef) is forcing them to cut $20-million USD from their 2014-15 budget!  In Palm Beach Gardens, Morrison Healthcare issued a WARN saying they will render 71 employees jobless in January 2015.

Minnesota: After announcing plans in April to expand ops in Canada, Minnetonka based food processor Cargill actually expanded their job killing! Cargill sold off a Winnipeg feed mill and shutdown a Manitoba mill, as well as shutdown a Manitoba granary. News reports gave various reasons from saying the mills needed upgrades that were too expensive to pay for, to Cargill needing to become more efficient in the Canadian livestock feed industry. No details reported on how many Great White North jobs will be lost.

Missouri: CenturyLink announced they will shutdown their Columbia dispatch center in January 2015, at least 40 jobs lost.

Nebraska: God refuses to stop Kearny based CHI (Catholic Health Initiatives) Health Good Samaritan from killing “…1,500 administrative and support positions across the country by Jan. 30, 2015.”, despite recently getting a $3.3-million grant.  Administrators blame Obama Care for driving away customers.

New York: In Auburn, AC maker Daikin Applied issued a WARN announcing a 3rd round of layoffs.  The company is shutting down by December 2015, affecting a total of 310 jobs!   In Geneva, after months of rumors 54 years old Madia’s Big M grocery store shutdown. The Madia family basically said it wasn’t worth it operating a grocery store anymore and will focus on their other business ops. In Saranac Lake, the non-profit science research Trudeau Institute continues to layoff employees, despite getting new state funding.  This time five people to become unemployed by the end of 2014.  In West Village, after 15 years Bonnie Slotnick Cookbooks shutting down in January 2015, the owner says the landlord suddenly refused to renew the lease: “I can’t believe I’m turning into one of your sad stories, but I’ve just lost my lease…..My landlord doesn’t want me here….It doesn’t matter if he hears from 10-thousand people. He didn’t even offer me a different rent, he just said, ‘no!’.”

Pennsylvania: The Ephrata Library killed off 11 jobs due to funding cuts.

Ohio:  MAGY Staffing issued a WARN saying they will shutdown call centers and offices in Toledo and Holland, 225 people to become jobless by January 2015!   In Stryker, A. Schulman announced it will shutdown its color concentrates and additives factory in April 2015, 70 jobs lost.  Administrators say the bad economy is forcing them to “right size”.

Rhode Island: After 70 years Damon’s Hardware shutdown.

Texas: In Houston, Hollywood Vietnamese & Chinese Cuisine shutdown.  Oil industry companies Halliburton and Baker Hughes warned of massive layoffs saying they need to cut expenses by $2-billion!

Vermont: In Rutland, owners of Sal’s Downtown Restaurant announced they will shutdown in December. Apparently the landlord refused to renew the lease.

Virginia: Medical testing lab Health Diagnostic Laboratory revealed they laid off 132 employees! However, the company has been accused of paying (bribing) health care providers to use their service.

14-16 november 2014: “like watching people get executed”

The U.S. Department of Labor (DoL) doesn’t count the hundreds of layoffs involving less than 50 people each, in its mass layoff reports. It also doesn’t count all the little ‘mom & pop’ businesses that shutdown. It doesn’t count people who get a severance for being laid off.

Business/Economics

JCPenney closing update 19 January 2015: Store shutdowns ramping up? New store shutdown announced!

A recent 24/7 Wall Street analysis of JCPenney store shutdowns says the announcement of a 40 store shutdown is too small: “J.C. Penney has not closed enough stores. So, the question is when it can afford to close more. Based on its financials, the total will need to be close to 200.”

In 2014, a CNN Money report said JCPenney needed to close “300 of its nearly 1,100 stores”.

update 07 January 2015: 2-thousand+ jobs lost! 

Alabama: Selma Mall JCPenney, recently revealed Cullman Shopping Center JCPenney (at least 25 jobs lost).

California: Rancho Cucamonga Arrow Plaza JCPenney. Cupertino Vallco Shopping Mall JCPenney, the mall was sold to a property developer and JCPenney administrators said it’s not worth it to keep the store open, 170 jobs lost!

Colorado: Colorado Springs Chapel Hills Mall JCPenney.

Connecticut: Meriden Square (Westfield Meriden Mall) JCPenney.

Florida: Leesburg Lake Square Mall JCPenney. Port Richey Port View Square JCPenney.

Georgia: Morrow JCPenney will be shutdown between now and 1st quarter 2015. Duluth JCPenney Home Store will be shutdown between now and 1st quarter 2015. Dalton and Lagrange stores shutdown by April 2015.

Iowa: Muscantine Mall JCPenney. Des Moines JCPenney will be shutdown between now and 1st quarter 2015. Mason, Waterloo and West Burlington stores closing in April.

Illinois: Bloomingdale Stratford Square Mall JCPenney. Forsyth Hickory Point Mall. West Dundee JCPenney will be shutdown between now and 1st quarter 2015, recently revealed Quincy Mall store (about 50 jobs lost), Dekalb store in April.

Indiana: Marion Five Points Mall JCPenney. Warsaw Marketplace shopping Center JCPenney. Michigan store in April.

Maryland: The Centre at Salisbury JCPenney.

Massachusetts: Hanover and Taunton stores.

Michigan: Marquette Westwood Mall JCPenney. Adrian store.

Minnesota: Worthington Northland Mall JCPenney.

Mississippi: Gautier Singing River Mall JCPenney. Natchez Mall JCPenney.

Montana: Butte Plaza Shopping Center JCPenney. Cut Bank JCPenney.

North Carolina: Kinston Vernon Park Mall JCPenney. High Point JCPenney will be shutdown between now and 1st quarter 2015. Asheboro, Elizabeth, Statesville and Wilson stores.

New Jersey: Burlington Center JCPenney. Phillipsburg Mall JCPenney. Vineland Cumberland Mall store.

New York: Recently revealed Hudson Valley Mall store (74 jobs lost).

Ohio: Wooster Wayne Towne Plaza JCPenney, recently revealed Springfield store (90 jobs lost), recently revealed Greenville store (55 jobs lost), recently revealed Columbus Eastland Mall store (80 jobs lost).

Oregon: North Bend.

Pennsylvania: Exton Square mall JCPenney. Hazel Township Laurel Mall JCPenney. Washington Mall JCPenney. Chambersburg, Hummels Warf, Media, State College and York stores.

Rhode Island: Providence.

South Carolina: Recently revealed Inlet Square Mall store (65 jobs lost), recently revealed Murrels Inlet Aiken Mall store (34 jobs lost).

South Dakota: Aberdeen Lakewood Mall.

Tennessee: Chattanooga Northgate Mall JCPenney.

Texas: Brenham Market Square Mall.

Vermont: Diamond Run Mall and Saint Albans Shopping Center.

Virginia: Bristol Mall JCPenney. Norfolk Military Circle Mall JCPenney. Culpepper JCPenney will be shutdown between now and 1st quarter 2015. Manassas and Williamsburg stores.

Wisconsin: Fond du Lac Forest Mall JCPenney. Janesville Mall JCPenney. Rhinelander Lincoln Plaza Center JCPenney. Rice Lake Cedar Mall JCPenney. Wausau Mall JCPenney. Racine Regency Mall JCPenney store was sold for $2.2-million USD (that’s less than what JCPenney had been asking for) to a property developer-speculator, and will shutdown during the 1st quarter of 2015, at least 77 jobs lost. Oshkosh, Racine and Shawano stores.

Washington: The Bellevue Square JCPenney shutdown their 55 years old store, 141 jobs lost! This, despite the fact that the owners of the mall are spending $1.2-billion to bring in more shoppers!