I got this tip from a brilliant accountant. Retailers use unwitting consumers as part of their bankruptcy planning. Many stores will close after the 1st of the year, and they are still legally selling Gift Cards.
Below is a partial list of stores that you should be cautious about:
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- Circuit City (filed Chapter 11)
- Ann Taylor – 117 stores nationwide closing
- Lane Bryant, Fashion Bug and Catherine’s to close 150 stores nationwide
- Eddie Bauer to close 27 stores and more after January
- Cache will close all stores
- Talbots closing down specialty stores
- J. Jill closing all stores (owned by Talbots)
- Pacific Sunwear (also owned by Talbots)
- GAP closing 85 stores
- Footlocker closing 140 stores more to close after January
- Bombay closing remaining stores
- Zales closing down 82 stores and 105 after January
- Piercing Pagoda closing stores
- Disney closing 98 stores and will close more after January
- Home Depot closing 15 stores
- Macys to close 9 stores after January
- Linens and Things closing all stores
- Movie Gallery closing all stores
- Sprint/Nextel closing 133 stores
- JC Penney closing a number of stores after January
- Ethan Allen closing 12 stores
- Wilson Leather closing down all stores
- Sharper Image closing all stores
- K B Toys closing stores
Don’t throw your money away! There is no law against this; so, it’s up to you to be informed.
From the Atlanta Journal Constitution:
Several household-name retailers and restaurants have filed for bankruptcy in 2008….Michelle Jun, a staff attorney for Consumers Union, picks cash over gift cards because “you’ll maintain the value of what you’re giving. We have no idea which retailers will remain afloat. What we do know is that retailers are not setting aside funds behind the gift cards.” She mentioned people who had not used their Sharper Image gift cards. The company eventually honored cards during its bankruptcy, but not at full value.”
The first comment in this post came from Home Depot posting anonymously:
Domain Name homedepot.com (Commercial)
IP Address 151.140.228.# (The Home Depot USA)
ISP The Home Depot USA
Location
Continent : North America
Country : United States (Facts)
State : Georgia
City : Atlanta
Filed under: Business, Economy, Folks Behaving Badly, Holiday, Labor/Business, News Headlines, Slime, news | Tagged: Buyer Beware, Consumer Alert, Gift Card Heist, Gift Cards, Stores Closing, Your Money
You really need to get up to date. This whole warning is just an Internet hoax. You are spreading urban myths from the Internet and perpetuating something that isn’t true. Check out all of these verified news sources for the truth.
http://www.todaystmj4.com/news/local/35060709.html
http://abclocal.go.com/wtvd/story?section=news/troubleshooter&id=6524236
http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=4865667
Please pull this post down as a service to mankind.
Sitemonitor: What “THE TRUTH” fails to mention is that she works for Home Depot according to her IP address.
Thanks, “THE TRUTH,” for looking out for your customers…NOT.
If you were on the up and up, why not just say this doesn’t apply to Home Depot?
Lowes, here I come!
I received an email from my mother stating the same thing, so I decide to search on Google for information regarding the truth of the matter. If anyone takes the time to read up on this issue, it becomes perfectly clear that this tip is just a bunch of hot air, something for bloggers to talk about to generate more traffic to their sites. The fact that Home Depot is closing 15 stores in no way means that a gift card from Home Depot will be worthless on the first of the year. 15 Stores is a very small percentage of the total size of Home Depot.
Get the facts, not opinions.
If I send a Home Depot gift card to my bro for Xmas and the HD near him is closing, he’s SOL. And when you use gift cards like I do, you need to pay attention.
Hi – I work at The Home Depot and the list posted here and circulating in emails is referencing old information about our company. We announced the closing of 15 Home Depot stores back in May and have no plans to close additional Home Depot stores.
Looks like you’ve already heard from one of my colleagues, but I wanted to clarify as an official representative of the company.
Sarah Molinari
Home Depot Communications
information@homedepot.com
Thanks!