StoreClosings
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Dixons Carphone to close 11 percent of UK stores
The British high street is a difficult place to compete. Dixons Carphone, the company behind Currys, PC World and Carphone Warehouse, knows that all too well after announcing plans to shutter 134 stores. The downsizing manoeuvre will merge any remaining PC World and Currys outlets under a single brand -- the convoluted "Currys PC World" -- with a smaller Carphone Warehouse section inside. Although its footprint will shrink by 11 percent, Dixons Carphone says it's "very confident" the move will have a "neutral or better" impact on sales and staff numbers. It's an ambitious target, and one that puts faith in its new three-in-one store concept.
Office Depot closing 112 stores
Office Depot's jumped on the "get outta town quick" train and announced it'll close 112 of its "underperforming" stores over the course of the next three months. The closures will amount to roughly nine percent of the OD's locations, and the company will also close six out of its 33 North American distribution facilities. All of this falls under the banner of cutting back costs, of course, in response the economy's woes and "no profits." [Via TG Daily]
Circuit City announces store closure plans, full list of locations revealed
Yesterday news broke that Circuit City would announce the imminent closure of 155 retail locations, and this morning the company confirmed the news. Detailing its next plan of action in a lengthy press release, the electronics-maker blames "waning consumer confidence and a significantly weakened retail environment" (amongst other things) for the closings, and says that it's considering "all available options and alternatives for the business." In the short-term, this means that we'll see store closings in 55 markets from coast to coast, and the retailer will axe 17 percent of its workforce. The company also plans to begin store closing sales this Wednesday, November 5th, so they're clearly not wasting any time with the process. We've got more info in the read links below, as well as a full list of the closing stores -- if you're an employee, we hope your number isn't on there.[Thanks, Milachy]Read - PDF List of store closings Read - Circuit City to Retrench [Warning: requires subscription]Read - Circuit City Stores, Inc. Provides Update on Liquidity and Announces Store Closing Plan
Circuit City to shutter 155 stores, locations to go public tomorrow
According to a slew of tips we've received, Circuit City will be closing down 155 of its retail locations, possibly even before Black Friday. Right now details are sketchy, but it seems that the company's traditional "holiday kickoff" meeting was actually a "holiday layoff" discussion instead. Apparently, a full list of store locations getting the axe will be revealed. In the words of a current employee:"I'm an employee @ Circuit City and today there was a mandatory store meeting for the holiday season and to welcome all the seasonal employees. There was also some tension as rumors were rampant the days before that we were all going to find out we were out of a job today. Luckily, but still somehow unfortunately, I'm still an employee of Circuit City. The same can't be said for the employees of the 155 stores that are closing, possibly even before black Friday. The list of stores that are shutting down will be made public tomorrow. The idea behind closing the stores before Black Friday is to transfer product from the failing stores to the stronger ones to save some money."This makes sense given the rumors we heard in October and the fact that the company's stock has been been essentially put on death watch by the NYSE -- but that surely won't soften the blow to everyone whose job will be affected by this. If you have more detail on the situation, feel free to drop us a line.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Sprint announces massive layoffs, store closings amid subscriber defection
New Sprint Nextel CEO Dan Hesse appears to have inherited a company bleeding subscribers by the thousands, and will now officially be dropping the ax on 4,000 employees and 125 retail locations. Amid the loss of 639,000 postpaid customers in the fourth quarter, Sprint will be cutting a total of 6.7% of its work force (following the 5,000 layoffs last year) and 8% of company-owned brick-and-mortar stores, while remaining mute on other rumors that it will consolidate its headquarters in Kansas. Sprint Nextel shares are down $2.89, or nearly 25%, at the time of this writing.[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
