Linens 'n Things going out of business

Linens 'n Things, the Clifton, N.J.-based housewares retailer, has run out of options and immediately began going-out-of-business sales.

[Rascal]

Another blow in the economy!

[Just Me]

Why don't they say the name of the "Private Investment Firm" in the article so that we can all know who really ran the company into the ground?? I'm so tired of seeing these good, mostly anyway, coompanies being bought up by these investment companies that then turn around and milk thime for a few years in order to tun a profit for the short term stock holdings, then when things a get a little tough they just let the company go... And don't think for a minute that they are loosing a great deal of money on this, somehow through liquidation they will still manage to "bring in the cash" and protect their own hides form the stockholders, most of whom have no idea where their money is or what is being done with it. Meanwhile what is really happening, is several thousand people are loosing their jobs entirely, not just a few bucks here and there like the investor might, but instead they are out everything they currently have in the way of making money for their families. Private investor funds buying these companies will ruin most of them, just wait and see who falls next in this economy... Good luck to those unfortunate people that will now have to try to find work.

[Tim]

I am wondering if this has something to do with the petters group scandal kind of a coincidence

[Yousaidit]

Sounds like an opportunity for people (like me) who are suffering from this economic downturn to do some cheap Christmas shopping.

[Spendaholics]

Sounds like they "juiced" the books, paid themselves a "bonus" and handed what's left to the courts to dealve over. This economy really isn't all that bad and besides as we were told a few months ago "We're just a bunch of whiners" right?

[Jeff]

They were always overpriced, wonder if that could be a reason?

[Kumar]

o no where will i go now to buy my towels, this isn't good at all, another blow for this country and more to come i'm sure

[gaBoing]

Just the threat of Obama socialism made these capitalistic pigs throw in the towel.

[Shopper]

I went to Linens-N-Things today to check out this "sale." Items are still not real cheap. The highest perentage off was 30%, but there were not many 30% off signs. Most things were 10% off, and they are not honoring prices in this week's flyer, not are they accepting coupons.

[Bob]

Just thought I would chime in on the big LNT "sale"

Anything that is marked 10% off everyone should avoid, a week earlier these items could have been purchased cheaper with a coupon.

Avoid anything that was previously on clearance, if you notice the signs say %off regular price so all clearance items have gone up in price. At least they have in the store I frequent.

Also avoid the "Grand Buffet" merchandise, these items were always on sale and now some of these items have doubled in price.

[LNT]

Jeff wrote:

They were always overpriced, wonder if that could be a reason?

Far from it Jeff.
Prices were on par with BBB (if not sometimes lower) and were lower then the YC store outlets.

[LNT]

Shopper wrote:

I went to Linens-N-Things today to check out this "sale." Items are still not real cheap. The highest perentage off was 30%, but there were not many 30% off signs. Most things were 10% off, and they are not honoring prices in this week's flyer, not are they accepting coupons.

Ok you might want to look at what's going on first.
The company was bought/taken over by a liquidation corp. Therefore LNT is no longer owned by LNT HQ. They are owned by the liquidation corp. Liquidators set the standards, rules and prices. Don't blame the stores or the people working there. It's not thier fault.

[LNT]

Just Me wrote:

Why don't they say the name of the "Private Investment Firm" in the article so that we can all know who really ran the company into the ground?? I'm so tired of seeing these good, mostly anyway, coompanies being bought up by these investment companies that then turn around and milk thime for a few years in order to tun a profit for the short term stock holdings, then when things a get a little tough they just let the company go... And don't think for a minute that they are loosing a great deal of money on this, somehow through liquidation they will still manage to "bring in the cash" and protect their own hides form the stockholders, most of whom have no idea where their money is or what is being done with it. Meanwhile what is really happening, is several thousand people are loosing their jobs entirely, not just a few bucks here and there like the investor might, but instead they are out everything they currently have in the way of making money for their families. Private investor funds buying these companies will ruin most of them, just wait and see who falls next in this economy... Good luck to those unfortunate people that will now have to try to find work.

I totally agree.
One of the other issues that always came up in my mind was the coupon policy. Taking expired coupons and competitor coupons (even expired) was a really good sized loss of money.
Thefts and people returning stuff (even used, which makes me sick!) alot was also a key factor in the loss of money.

[LNT]

There are only 2 good things that might come out of this liquidation.

1- People who couldn't afford nice merchandise will be able to afford maybe a little more with the big discounts to come.

2- Customers will actually have to THINK about what they are buying (since no returns) instead of just shopping and returning merchandise often (even used).

The huge bad thing that will happen is the loss of thousands of jobs which people relied upon.

Consumers really are stupid sometimes, especially to allow big chains like this to fall. I quote Tommy Lee Jones from Men in Black - "A person is smart. People are dumb, stupid and panicy"
Oh sooo true!

[DOU DOU]

Just went into this store to today and found the prices were still pretty high. Now they are having 20% to 40% sales. But 90% of the merchandise are only 20% off, which was exactly the same discount while using their 20% off coupons in the past. They've already marked up the prices high, plus now no coupons accepted. So with this current 20% sales on 90% of the stocks, I'm wondering if there's any real meaning for this going-out-of-business sales!? Something even interesting is they now don't even honor their clearance-priced item. Whatever percentage of the discount got be to discounted from its original price. For example, one pillow case I was about to purchase today, the original price was $19.00, and there was also a clearance tag shown $9.99. On the shelf, it said it was 40% off. When I checked out, I the found final price was $11.99 (before tax), which was even more expensive than the clearance price of $9.99. Then I was told by the cashier that all the clearance prices were void, so all the discount were taken from their original prices. Ha! Interesting idea for such going-out-of-business sales! Good luck to them!

[DOU DOU]

Correction -

For the previous comments I just posted, the original price of the pillow case should be $19.99, not $19.00.

Anyway, I'm still laughing about the sale idea that their Management Team have!

[what u lookin at]

its a fools sale the bait & switch technique! wait till after the holidays stuff will be be dirt cheap! i got outta there in 5 mins i noticed the false advertising quickly.

[LNT]

Dou Dou and (york, PA)

Ok as I stated above, the company is NOW owned by a Liquidation Corp. Basically all clearance tags, coupons, markdowns/damages and rebates are NON-EXISTANT. Those things are not the liquidators policy. All sales ARE from the orginal price. There are HUGE signs thruout the stores that say this. People need to pay attention.
The liquidator companies buy other companies and sell them off at the most and fastest they can. 20-40% is pretty reasonable at this time since you could only in the past use 20% coupons (sadly even if expired).
As far as the clearance tags being on the merchandise. Each store has appx 600,000-2mil units of products. Think all the clearance tags are going to be found? Think again. People DO make mistakes you know.

Breakdown at this time for sales:
20%- 60% of the merchandise (bedding/pillows, cookware, storage/cleaning, towels, lamps/shades)
30%- 30% of the merchandise (window treatments/hardware, furniture, games, electronics)
40%- 10% of the merchandise (duvets, quilts, duvet super sets, iHomes, digital frames)

No idea where you get your 90% stuff unless alot of the 30 and 40% stuff is already gone. If that's the case, you should of gone in sooner.
Waiting for stuff to go lower is a crap shoot. The item you want at a lower price might be gone by the time prices do go lower.

There is no false advertisement by the company since technically the LNT Home company no longer exists. Flyers/coupons were unexpectedly sent out just prior to the sale to the liquidators. Yes it sucks, but that's buiseness and not everything in buisness works out. I'll be really saddened to see this company go out as many other people will as well.

Man I'm soo sick of people bitching at those who work IN the store and not at the original owners. Employees and managers of the stores are doing the best they can with what is handed to them. Put yourself in thier shoes.

[lntworker]

LNT United States is soo right.LNTDOES NOT exist anymore.Apollo Management is the firm that ran us into the ground.Buyers who made bad choices in merchadise and bad planning.They should have been canned.As for pricing,the only things that stayed at clearance prices were aged merchadise,everything else went to ORIGINAL price.NOTHING was raised.Coupons were a big part of the downfall and also the return policy.I can't understand how people could lie right to our faces when making returns on stuff they used and claimed they didn't. I too am sick of people swearing at me ,the rest of the management staff and all the associates.Must take a real big person to belittle a 17 yr. old cashier to the point that she's ringing the sale in tears!Employees DO NOT make the rules,the court and liquidaters did and the final part of our jobs is to obey them.Almost 10,000 people will be out of jobs by Christmas and their families will all be hurting more than they are now.Show some compassion and stop bitching that you can't use a damn coupon!

[Concern]

Linens and Things was a bad store from the beginning. I had the same experience with the clearance merchandise as another post states. This was last Christmas and I am sure they were not owned by the liquidators at that point. There were several shelves of merchandise that stated 50% off original price. The item I was purchasing was 99.99 and when I got to the register it was 64.99, which is not half off. When I pointed out the issue the sales clerk stated "It is only select merchandise. Do you want it ?" The sign did not state select merchandise! I am glad to see them go out of business. They are great at the "bait and switch"