Don't give gift cards this Christmas
 

http://astrology.yahoo.com/event/hol...r-317188/?pg=2


...It looks like a lot of stores won't be around soon:

Circuit City (filed Chapter 11)
Ann Taylor closing 117 stores nationwide
Lane Bryant, Fashion Bug ,and Catherine's to close 150 stores nationwide
Eddie Bauer to close stores 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
Wickes Furniture closing down
Levitz closing down remaining stores
Bombay closing remaining stores
Zales closing down 82 stores and 105 after January
Whitehall closing all stores
Piercing Pagoda closing all stores
Disney closing 98 stores and will close more after January.
Home Depot closing 15 stores 1 in NJ ( New Brunswick )
Macys to close 9 stores after January
Linens and Things closing all stores
Movie Galley Closing all stores
Pep Boys Closing 33 stores
Sprint/Nextel closing 133 stores
JC Penney closing a number of stores after January
Ethan Allen closing down 12 stores
Wilson Leather closing down all stores
Sharper Image closing down all stores
K B Toys closing 356 stores
Loews to close down some stor

Uh, it's only partly true: http://www.snopes.com/politics/busin...nkruptcies.asp

Yep yep.

And maybe it's just me, but I find that lists like that have more validity when it is actually listed in a news article and not just in the "comments section"

Oh, I didn't even see that in the comments section. haha. I got that from somewhere else.

All the Movie Galleries in this area closed like a year ago.

I immediately thought about the piece they did on the Today show about this. They talked about the email going around telling people not give gift cards, and even went so far as to label it as a hoax, despite 4-5 stores actually closing/going bankrupt.

I know there are a few companies that are closing all their stores, but I think this whole thing is going a little overboard.

Like:
Disney is closing 98 of it's stores, but it still has around 200 that are staying open, just changing management

Footlocker is closing 140 stores, but it still has over 3500 stores that are open.

Zales is closing 105 stores, but it still has over 2100 stores open.


These emails and things make it sound like there will be NO stores left of any of these companies, and with a few exceptions, that isn't the case.

^^ It's not necessarily saying that there won't be any stores left. But if someone gives me a giftcard to a store that's right down the street from me, but it's closing 5 days after Christmas, and there aren't any more in my area, that giftcard could be useless to me (at least until I travel someplace where they do have one of these stores).

And, if the person holds on to that gift card for a while and the economy continues to tank and a store declares bankruptcy, they may not have to honor the gift cards.

That is true, and I think that goes on the responsibility of the person giving the gift card.

But people shouldn't say "well i'm not going to give a Home depot gift card, cause 15 stores are closing" unless their store(s) is one of the 15 closing. Ya know? Like we have about 5 or 6 Footlocker stores here (not including Lady footlocker, kids footlocker, etc) so if one or two close, it's no biggie.

I'm just saying people should check to see if their local stores are closing before giving a gift card, instead of fore-going the idea altogether.

don't some of these stores still have websites? So if I get an Ann Taylor gift card (which I would gladly accept, btw), even though the store near me has closed, I can still use it online. Same with J Jill, Disney and several others.

Plus a quick search for coupon codes means I can also get free shipping or some other discount so I have saved a trip to the mall all together! (I'm a big fan of online shopping in case you couldn't tell)

^^ From what I understand, you can't use some (if not, all) giftcards online.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

I don't know why stores would have that policy for their cards if gift cards are honored at the store, but if they do, they're supposed to have that disclaimer printed on the card.

Yea, I looked up some stuff about this. Some places will take them, some places won't. And obviously if a company doesn't have a website, they won't! :p