Free Republic

Did you know that Family Dollar is closing 370 stores? When I learned of this, I was quite stunned. I knew that retailers that serve the middle class were really struggling right now, but I had no idea that things had gotten so bad for low end stores like Family Dollar. In the post-2008 era, dollar stores had generally been one of the few bright spots in the retail industry. As millions of Americans fell out of the middle class, they were looking to stretch their family budgets as far as possible, and dollar stores helped them do that....

Coldwater Creek Inc., CWTR -27.68% a women's clothing and accessory retailer, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in Delaware Friday with a plan to liquidate its inventory and close its stores after failing to attract a buyer. The retailer said it had considered several strategic alternatives over the past six months, including a sale, although it couldn't find a buyer or raise enough capital to fund its business. Coldwater, which operates a catalog business, retail and factory stores, as well as an e-commerce website, expects to start going-out-of-business sales to liquidate its inventory in early May. Like much of the...