Free Republic

You know that Sharper Image gift card you got for Christmas? Right now, it's worthless. And other gift cards in your wallet could lose their value, too. As more retailers file for bankruptcy or go out of business, more than $75 million in gift cards are at risk of becoming worthless pieces of plastic this year. [snip] The number of retail bankruptcies or liquidations this year is expected to reach the highest levels since the 1991 recession. Brian Riley, senior analyst at The TowerGroup, estimates that shoppers could lose more than $75 million just from stores and restaurant closings in...

My parents who are in their seventies, retired, and on Social Security stopped at Walmart on US Hwy 80 in Mesquite, TX to get gas. After paying at the pump with a Walmart Gift Card and retrieving the receipt, the woman in the booth comes over the speaker and asks him how he intends to pay. My Dad tells her he has already paid and shows her the receipt through the window. They argue a bit, then she asks him to see the $500 Walmart Gift Card. Instead of telling her to buzz off, he hands her the card. She...

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE:WMT - News) on Saturday estimated that January sales rose 4.7 percent at its U.S. stores open at least a year, toward the high end of its forecast, as shoppers redeemed holiday gift cards. The world's biggest retailer had expected 3 percent to 5 percent growth in sales at stores open at least a year -- a key retail measure known as same-store sales. Wal-Mart and most other major chain stores will release final January sales figures on Thursday. On a recorded message detailing sales through Friday, which marked the end of Wal-Mart's January...