Boscov's Department Stores Seek Bankruptcy Protection

[RamboLiberal]

Source: Bloomberg

Aug. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Boscov's Inc., the 9,500-employee department-store chain founded in 1911 in Reading, Pennsylvania, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Wilmington, Delaware, today, citing decreased consumer spending.

Boscov's, which said in court papers that it's the biggest family-owned full-service department store chain in the U.S., will immediately close 10 of its 49 stores. The company said it will borrow as much as $250 million from a group of lenders led by Bank of America Corp. to help it restructure.

The collapse of the housing market and increased food and energy costs have led to ``a decline in the discretionary spending by consumers upon which the debtors' business depends,'' Michael Hughes, Boscov's executive vice president of capital development, said in court papers. The company has stores in six states, mostly in Pennsylvania.

A pullback in consumer spending has contributed to more than a dozen retail bankruptcy filings in the past year, including Mervyn's LLC, which operates most of its 177 stores in California, on July 29. It joins Goody's Family Clothing Inc., Linens n' Things and Sharper Image Corp.



Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103&sid=a2fCiNWU8sI8&refer=news

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And another one bites the dust. Tell me again how Republicans are good for business???????

[FreakinDJ]

1. But its just a "Mental Recession"

brought to you by a "Mental Midget"

[azmouse]

2. That saddens me.

I grew up near Reading and my family shopped at Boscov's a lot.

[MannyGoldstein]

3. Tonight We're Gonna Party Like It's 1929

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMenB9Ywh2Q

[Alcibiades]

4. I didn't realize until just now that Sharper Image went bankrupt

Sad about Boscov's, but the good news is that maybe some of the more useless bits of the economy will disappear.

[TommyO]

8. Useless bits of the economy, like the employees in the ten closing stores?

[Alcibiades]

10. I was talking about Sharper Image there

Not Boscovs. There are bits of the economy that focus on overpriced, useless things, rather than actual human needs. For better or worse, some of those will go by the wayside when folks cannot afford electric nose hair clippers any longer.

[TommyO]

11. Boscovs or Sharper Image, it doesn't matter

They were still people that were left jobless, and yes, I do believe that The Sharper Image sold non-essential items for the most part.

[Bozita]

5. "It's the economy, stupid!"

Tried before and it works.

More true today than in '92.

[FreakinDJ]

6. "Its the Depression Stupid"

Fuck the Propaganda and lets get on with the truth

Folks that lived through the original great depressio tell me there are more foreclosures NOW then there were in 1929

SSI / Welfare were created to prevent people from suffering as severly as they did during the first Great Depression. The current state of the country just proves those programs works just as they were designed to do.

OUR ECONOMY has been the ReFi Economy for the last 7 years as Bush and his cronies exported the last remaining industries out of the country. The MAJORITY of money being circulated in our economy has been from all the Bad Loans Wall St. Manufactured

[The Croquist]

14. We're not even in a recession yet and you're talking depression?

I expect that we will be in a recession in 3 months but we are still not there. We are no where close to depression.

[Alcibiades]

16. We are in a recession

If we used honest numbers.

[FreakinDJ]

17. Only if you believe Bush and his fucked up mis-administration

Every expert - and I mean EVERY economic expert has said the last 3 quarters of Economic decline represent a recession.

Depression is when prices fall - LIKE HOME PRICES

[showmemo]

7. Pretty soon its only going to be Walmart

All the good stores are going broke. We are going to be a Walmart county.

Time to Unionize Walmart or boycott them.

[HopeHoops]

12. But if it is only WalMart.....

Where will those who are not Republicans and/or morons shop?

[PA Democrat]

9. Sad, but not surprising.

I have been in the Monroeville store (which is one of the 6 which will be closing) several times recently, and the store was deserted. But then the mall in general was very empty compared to the past. I think we are going to be seeing more and more empty storefronts.

[CANDO]

13. I live in Reading

My family loves shopping at Boscovs. Very nice stores and great to support a local, family owned chain. This is sad. There's been several pieces regarding Boscov's financial strain in the Reading Eagle over the past two weeks leading up to this point.

[LiberalEsto]

15. And Value City stores nt