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alstry (35.76)

17,000 More Jobs to Go??????

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July 08, 2008 – Comments (5)

LAST YEAR: 

...Late last year, Howard Schacter, Steve & Barry's chief partnership officer, told Newsday that the company had had "an unprecedented year of growth," and that it had "added more square footage than any specialty retailer in the country."

Nonetheless, Schacter said, in December Steve & Barry's laid off 170 people, less than 1 percent of its total workforce of about 17,000.

THIS YEAR:

(Newsday (Melville, NY) (KRT) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Jul. 4--Steve & Barry's, the Port Washington-based clothing retailer that opened more than 200 dress-down stores in the past few years and is the home of splashy but low-price apparel and footwear by the likes of Sarah Jessica Parker and Stephon Marbury, plans to close 100 outlets and is considering liquidation if it can't find emergency financing, according to a published report.

http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2008/07/07/3533840.htm

Potentially 17,000 jobs and millions and millions of square feet of retail space.

Round and round she goes........

5 Comments – Post Your Own

#1) On July 08, 2008 at 1:45 AM, alstry (35.76) wrote:

Retail Deteriorating:

Office Depot, the Delray Beach, Fla., office-supplies retailer, said early on Tuesday that "pressure from weakening business conditions" pushed down second-quarter North American same-store retail sales nearly 10%........Office Depot's "sales trends worsened late in the quarter," shrinking its profit margin based on earnings before interest and taxes by 2 percentage points more than the narrowing of 2 to 2.5 percentage points it had previously estimated.

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/office-depot-report-same-store-sales/story.aspx?guid=%7B9A193850%2DC218%2D463A%2DAE88%2D97FAEBD6546C%7D&dist=hplatest

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#2) On July 08, 2008 at 1:59 AM, alstry (35.76) wrote:

Last Quarter sss for ODP was negative 9%.  This quarter it is negative 10% plus additional 2%compression in margin over recent guidance.

Clearly, even after material discounting, sales still slowing......not a good sign.  Maybe that is why the company was trying to reduce headcount at its corporate offices recently:

Office Depot said it is trying to reduce its 2,000-employee workforce at its Delray Beach headquarters through a voluntary separation program.

Brian Levine, a spokesman for the office supply retailer, said severance is being offered to salaried and hourly employees at the company's headquarters. He said Office Depot (NYSE: ODP) does not have a specific number of jobs targeted for elimination.

"With the economic environment that Office Depot and many other companies are facing, we believe it is imperative that we take prudent steps to cut expenses while we continue to manage the business for both growth and profitability," Levine said.

http://southflorida.bizjournals.com/southflorida/stories/2008/06/09/daily46.html?ana=yfcpc

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#3) On July 08, 2008 at 5:58 AM, zygnoda (27.32) wrote:

Fueled by an overvalued housing market and a spigot of easy credit, people overextended themselves on luxury items like automobiles, boats, Jet Skis and the like. If Jones got a Hummer, you got a Hummer. If Smith got a Corvette, you got a Cadillac. Now the punch bowl has gone empty and the bill for the good times has come due. There are now more than 250 repossession companies across Michigan and scores of fly-by-night freelancers with pickups and crowbars prowling the streets from sundown to sunup looking for that Escalade in arrears.

Look at the numbers: Nationwide, auto loan defaults are up 22 percent since 2000 and auto repossessions are up 33 percent, topping 1.65 million in 2007. Some analysts believe we may be driving toward a foreclosure meltdown on rims.

So while the overextended citizen eats cold cuts, Ramfos eats steak. (REPO MAN) There are five empty homes in his Oakland County neighborhood, yet Ramfos just got his master bathroom remodeled. While some college students can't find tuition loans because of the credit pinch, Ramfos sends his child to private school. While some people have seen their 401(k) drop and their prospects for retirement wither, Ramfos is shopping for vacation property on the Gulf Coast.

"If it keeps up this way, I'm going to retire in 10 years," he said.

In the burbs, the repo men have seen people cry, lay in front of their tires, threaten to call an attorney when they are attorneys themselves. It is the stuff worthy of a mini-series. "People in the rich suburbs are soft," Webster offered. "Put them out in the woods and they'd die in three days."

 

http://detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080708/METRO/807080366

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#4) On July 08, 2008 at 6:13 AM, DemonDoug (98.90) wrote:

al -

can you do me a favor and please outline specifically why you feel we are headed for a deflation?  (not asking to be snarky, i'm just trying to figure out what the case for deflation entails)

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#5) On July 08, 2008 at 8:32 AM, alstry (35.76) wrote:

17,000 more?????? 

Siemens cutting 16,750 jobs worldwide to cut costs
Tuesday July 8, 7:30 am ET
By George Frey, AP Business Writer

Siemens to cut 16,750 jobs, or 4.2 pct of its global work force, blames slowing economy

FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) -- Industrial conglomerate Siemens AG said Tuesday it would cut 16,750 jobs, or 4.2 percent of its global work force, to streamline operations and cut nearly $2 billion in costs in the face of a slowing economy.

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