Linens 'n Things to close all 3 Grand Rapids stores

[LNTer]

I work at one of the GR stores and the liquidators haven't been hired yet. The stores are projected to be open most of the summer. Once the liquidators take over, we've been told no coupons. One key difference between BBB and LNT is the amount of debt load LNT has-hundreds of millions and BBB-none. All home retailers are struggling and posting lower numbers. I think this is just the start.

[Dave]

One last reply to Mark. I am not a dipstick! I am retired and living on a fixed income. For people in my position, we are in a RECESSION. You can rant on and on about the media. That is the typical Republican answer to all the problems that we have in this country. I am not into name calling as I have always found that is a good sign of a person that doesn't think too much. Have a great weekend!!!!!!!!!!

[Daniel]

Dave wrote:

For people in my position, we are in a RECESSION.

The definition of a recession is two successive quarters of negative GDP growth. Q4 2007 GDP grew at 0.6%, and Q1 2008 grew at 0.6%. Both numbers are positive. Technically speaking, we are not in a recession, and probably won't be because of the Fed's actions. You can claim that you might have a different definition of a recession, but that is your definition then, not what the rest of the economy follows.

[Mark]

Dave wrote:

One last reply to Mark. I am not a dipstick! I am retired and living on a fixed income. For people in my position, we are in a RECESSION. You can rant on and on about the media. That is the typical Republican answer to all the problems that we have in this country. I am not into name calling as I have always found that is a good sign of a person that doesn't think too much. Have a great weekend!!!!!!!!!!

Wonderful, except it isn't a Republican reply, it is fact--liberal, conservative, economic, whatever.

Besides, I no longer consider myself a Republican, they're too liberal for my tastes.

Hope you had a great weekend too.

[Tired of the hypocrites]

It's unfortunate for the soon to be former employees. Add these poor folks to the growing unemployment list. Don't forget about the Home Depot stores that are closing. Those people will be on the job prowl soon too. So sad. Good luck to those who need income. This is one of those times when the old adage "misery loves company" is not true.

[FoonTheElder]

Mark wrote:

<quoted text>
Hey dipstick, a recession by definition is 2 quarters with negative growth. That didn't happen. And the major reason we are in a slowdown is because we allow the stupid media to talk us into it. Employment is still very low--in most other states--and most industries are staying level or growing except construction and auto.
So keep buying into the media hype.

Hey dorkmeat, maybe your precious Bush & Cheney are lying to you so they can make like everything is great. The real unemployment rate is 10%, the real inflation rate is 12% and growth has been under 1% for the whole Bush administration. The politicians have spent decades cooking the stats to make them look good.

http://www.mindfully.org/Reform/2008/Pollyann...

[Truth 007]

Mark wrote:

<quoted text>
Yes, times are difficult and the working class is not doing so well. I have had to lower prices in my business to attempt to compete and I still am losing work. This is back to 5-10 years ago pricing. But I am not going to let the media talk me into being even more negative, otherwise I'll start sounding like Neko. lol And one of those is more than enough.
While there are some major problems, I am quite confident that had the media not kept reporting negativism all the time, we wouldn't have slowed down nearly as bad--throughout the country--as we have. Pretty safe to say that Michigan is in a world of hurt without any help from the media.
So how about 3/4's of the way?

Well I guess I can be ok with that. I never looked at it from a business stand point. I can see where you are coming from. Keep your head up!

[soontobeformerln temployee]

I hate the fact that LNT calls the stores that closed "under performing". They closed all stores in Kansas City. Kansas City is part of the #1 District in the company as far as Comp sales. The district is up about 5% for the year with the company down 7%. The fact that we are going bankrupt isnt due to the economy either. We are bankrupt because we rely on a replenishment system that overloads us with un productive merchandise while we have constant holes on the sales floor for the merch that really sells. The buyers are the ones who should be losing their jobs not the hard working store associates.

[Steelie]

Good Day,

Sootobe... Excelent point! I had a feeling there was "more to the story". Having been a mananger at BB&B a few years ago I know exactly what you are talking about!

Steelie

[Joanie]

Fascinating--really--I can see it in the stores. Loads of crap, but the really 'hot' things were always out of stock. I was also quite shocked at the Nate Berkus line--very low end--fairly expensive considering the quality. Shelves stuffed full of it at all times. Sad--for the people who worked hard and had no control over any of this.

soontobeformerlntemployee wrote:

I hate the fact that LNT calls the stores that closed "under performing". They closed all stores in Kansas City. Kansas City is part of the #1 District in the company as far as Comp sales. The district is up about 5% for the year with the company down 7%. The fact that we are going bankrupt isnt due to the economy either. We are bankrupt because we rely on a replenishment system that overloads us with un productive merchandise while we have constant holes on the sales floor for the merch that really sells. The buyers are the ones who should be losing their jobs not the hard working store associates.

[michael g]

FoonTheElder wrote:

<quoted text>
Hey dorkmeat, maybe your precious Bush & Cheney are lying to you so they can make like everything is great. The real unemployment rate is 10%, the real inflation rate is 12% and growth has been under 1% for the whole Bush administration. The politicians have spent decades cooking the stats to make them look good.
http://www.mindfully.org/Reform/2008/Pollyann...

I'm always amazed at the contadiction. Certain people simultaneously believe that George Bush is so dumb that he can barely figure out how to keep breathing, AND that he can deceive the whole world about the state of the US economy.

I think my head would hurt if I tried to accept both of those at the same time.

[Steelie]

Good Day,

Good point Micheal... what... is GW an idiot savant then? Hehehe....

The same, unfortunatley, could be said about our dear ol' crappy govenor Granholm. Although I can not stand her, I am not so naive to believe that she is solely responsible for the sad state of affairs in Michigan. So too with ol' GW. If anyone tries to dump this crap on you then you know one of two things. They are completely naive of how politics and the world at large work and or that they are hard core leftists who are still mad he won in the first place.

Steelie

[concern]

fastedrose wrote:

DANIEL You count
Tell all at this site what a fantastic store this is.
I believe in this product.

I am concerned because there are a lot of people without a job. They can't pay their mortage or put food on the table so what makes you think they will go out and buy from any retailer

[concern]

There are a lot of people without jobs. They can pay their mortage or put food on their table. what makes you think people have money to buy anthing for their home.

[Lnt employee]

I'll put my 2 cents in! I have been in liquidation since June 1st. No you cannot use coupons. Only credit cards or cash, no checks. The way they figured what stores would close was the overhead and what the store produced. It's not because of the staff in the store. We cannot make people come and buy. I hear people all day talk about the economy and it is awful. You can call it a recession or whatever but people are hurting today. You talk about jobs out there, yes if you can afford to feed your family on 8 dollars an hour. I am not like the majority in my store but alot of these people are the bread and butter to their family. If people aren't feeling a pinch more now then years ago its because you have a high paying job, get government assistance, or have inheritated a family estate. It is rough out there and we get no cost of living raises. There are many more stores to fold. Which means more unemployment. This is fact and not media hype. Wake up people and face the facts. We are in trouble and it will only get worse. I just read 28 diff. stores will be closing all of their stores or cut some of them. Some people must be living in a box not to see how high everything is. Be a little more sympathetic for the people losing their jobs instead of blaming the media. The economy does suck and if you don't fell it lucky you! Thanks for letting me vent! Ms. LNT

[-LMS-]

To those of you that are facing unemployment, I feel for you! My husband was laid off months ago and even though he has been consistently at Michigan Works and everywhere else putting resumes in, there still hasn't been any luck. The jobs that have been on the table have been for so little money that it wouldn't cover the cost of gas to get there and daycare. If it weren't for the job that I have we would be in a much worse situation than we already are. So good luck to you and I truly hope you are able to find employment again soon!

[Steelie]

Good Day,

I too feel sorry for those that have and or will be losing their jobs.

I personally think it was a matter not so much of the economy but of competition. Where I live (East Paris Near 32nd) we have the Centerpointe LNT and the 28th and Patterson BB&Y. My wife and I have shopped at both stores. And having been in retail, among other things like international business, it was very apparent that BB&Y usually had many more customers in the store at any given time. I mean a lot more. There have been times I went to the LNT store and did not see one other customer the entire time I was there. That never happened at BB&Y. So this tells me that there are/were issues coming from corporate most likely to cause this to happen. Was it pricing? Was it not sending out a 20% off coupon all the time like BB&Y does? Was it poor descision making by the purchasing department? I remember friends who were at BB&Y they were constantly evaluating the sales progress of their products. Be them on an end cap or otherwise. If it was not selling to potential it went to clearance as in yesterday. You can't have product that isn't moving taking up space for product that is moving. They constantly (everyday) as managers looked at what they called "per square foot profitability". If an item was not preforming to the equation set forward by corporate it was either moved or placed on clearance. Individual stores had to make this their own priority. Just because my store isn't selling does not mean another store is not going gangbusters on an item. So... they also had a system by which to move product from store to store in just such a case. Say one store is not selling much of a product but a store in another state can't keep it on the shelves, they would send it to them. Therefore increasing the profitability not only of both stores but the company as a whole. The same was enacted if a store needed say just one set of dishes. They would call to other stores (having access in the computer to know what stock they had) and could ask another store to ship them said set of dishes as it was faster than traditional stock replenishment generally.

Steelie