What's going to collapse next...

[King Penda]

15 hours ago, spygirl said:

Thing is, when you go back 20 years, retail provides a hefty chunk of chops.

25+ years ago, in my time in the London/SE, retail seemed to provide about 10-20% of the jobs. And probably a hefty bit of LA n ukgov revenue.

I used to think that retail job losses were care homes gain. If this virus carries on at the rate it is, then well have a fix for the care home crisis and an extra 20% of the dole.

I should add that large scale retail employment is a relative new thing that started early 80s. Before then people did not really shop n consume. That now looks like a phase, like padded shoulders.

Yep force the locals into carehomes jobs they think is below them that then means less need for foreigners ironicly 

[jm51]

I've been picking up my inhalers from Boots as it's close to the Aldi I shop at.

Got a call from my health clinic last week, that Boots store has shut due to the Wuflu. I can see why, it's massive. Even larger than the Aldi I go to.

Come to think of it, I don't recall many Boots stores that are on the smaller side.

[stop_the_craziness]

19 hours ago, jm51 said:

I've been picking up my inhalers from Boots as it's close to the Aldi I shop at.

Got a call from my health clinic last week, that Boots store has shut due to the Wuflu. I can see why, it's massive. Even larger than the Aldi I go to.

Come to think of it, I don't recall many Boots stores that are on the smaller side.

IIRC someone posted that they are also having a right ding-dong with their landlords, so maybe the virus is not the only reason the store has shut.

[Sasquatch]

Watching someone go backwards and forwards this morning from their office. Looks like they've handed in their notice and are clearing out. We're in a managed workspace building and it's always full (aprox 50 units).  Will be very interesting to see how full it remains in the next few months.....

[sancho panza]

Air BnB laying off 1200.......things must be bad in the travel industry.

https://www.investing.com/news/stock-market-news/airbnb-to-lay-off-1900-employees-sources-2161550

[TheCountOfNowhere]

13 hours ago, sancho panza said:

Air BnB laying off 1200.......things must be bad in the housing pyramid.

https://www.investing.com/news/stock-market-news/airbnb-to-lay-off-1900-employees-sources-2161550

 

[sancho panza]

'Further store closures loom as Clarks calls in KPMG, Deloitte and PwC'

https://www.retailgazette.co.uk/blog/2020/05/coronavirus-clarks-calls-in-kpmg-deloitte-and-pwc-to-explore-restructuring/

Last year, the 195-year old retailer had called for management consultant McKinsey to undertake a review of its strategy.

It has since been in talks with its adviser and investment bank Rothschild as it prepares to close a small number of loss-making stores which will see their leases expire soon.

Nevertheless, the decision to draft in the accountancy firms could mean Clarks is preparing to close a larger number of stores in some of the countries it operates.

Clarks said it is continuing to face “fast-changing challenges” due to the rise of economic and political uncertainty.

The retailer denied last month that it would be exploring a CVA – an insolvency which many retailers have used to undergo a radical restructuring.

Clarks has furloughed thousands of its store staff under the government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, and has been assessing options for the remainder of its workforce.

The retailer is expected to reveal the next step in the next few months as chief executive Giorgio Presca drafts up new plans.

Clarks trades from about 345 stores in the UK.

[sancho panza]

first of many I suspect

https://www.retailgazette.co.uk/blog/2020/05/hammersons-400m-retail-park-sale-collapses-as-buyer-pulls-out/

Hammerson has announced that the sale of its retail parks has been called off after private equity firm Orion pulled out of the £400 million deal.

Hammerson said it had a deposit of £21 million that had been held in escrow by its solicitors after Orion European Real Estate Fund held firm in its decision not to proceed with acquiring the seven retail parks in April.

Orion said last month that it did not intend to complete the deal, despite exchanging unconditional contracts in February.

line 5 might need rewriting

[gibbon]

18 hours ago, sancho panza said:

'Further store closures loom as Clarks calls in KPMG, Deloitte and PwC'

https://www.retailgazette.co.uk/blog/2020/05/coronavirus-clarks-calls-in-kpmg-deloitte-and-pwc-to-explore-restructuring/

Last year, the 195-year old retailer had called for management consultant McKinsey to undertake a review of its strategy.

I'll save them a few million on shiny suit twats: stop selling shit overpriced shoes. I can buy exactly the same shit shoes from the supermarket but they cost 1/10th the price.

[TheCountOfNowhere]

3 hours ago, gibbon said:

I'll save them a few million on shiny suit twats: stop selling shit overpriced shoes. I can buy exactly the same shit shoes from the supermarket but they cost 1/10th the price.

We stopped buying our children's shoes from Clarks for 2 reasons

1) They're shit

2) They're expensive

This really is no surprise.

 

[AWW]

We stopped buying Clarks shoes when they measured one of our kids as a D fitting, sales assistant bleated on about how important the width fitting was, then revealed that they don't have any Ds in stock and very rarely do.

[sancho panza]

Neiman Marcus.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/11572280/neiman-marcus-first-department-store-bankruptcy-coronavirus/

Neiman, which filed for bankruptcy in a Houston federal court, said it reached agreement with creditors for $675 million of debtor-in-possession financing to aid operations while it attempts to reorganize.

 

 

[Andersen]

Manchester-based property development company Blackmore have appointed receivers - the co raised around £45m selling ‘mini-bonds’ to the general public in 2016 and 2017. https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/mini-bond-blackmore-administration-collapse-investor-money-duff-phelps-112302477.html

[TheCountOfNowhere]

11 hours ago, Andersen said:

Manchester-based property development company Blackmore have appointed receivers - the co raised around £45m selling ‘mini-bonds’ to the general public in 2016 and 2017. https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/mini-bond-blackmore-administration-collapse-investor-money-duff-phelps-112302477.html

What a shame.

[spygirl]

12 hours ago, Andersen said:

Manchester-based property development company Blackmore have appointed receivers - the co raised around £45m selling ‘mini-bonds’ to the general public in 2016 and 2017. https://uk.finance.yahoo.com/news/mini-bond-blackmore-administration-collapse-investor-money-duff-phelps-112302477.html

What's that you said 8% a year return... I'll have 200k worth....

Oh my mistake, 9.9%..

Manchester-based property development company Blackmore raised around £45m ($55m) selling ‘mini-bonds’ to the general public in 2016 and 2017. Investors were asked to put in a minimum of £5,000 per person and were promised a return as high as 9.9% on some bonds.

However, Blackmore had not paid any monthly interest since October 2019. Blackmore’s management blamed the slow property market and repeatedly reassured investors payments would be forthcoming. Bondholders recently lost patience and went to the courts to request the company be dissolved.

So, 100k invested. 9k for 2 years = 118k.

Then bond price falls to 30p in £, so 35k return.

Real return of  -75% max.

[spygirl]

On 07/05/2020 at 16:13, sancho panza said:

Neiman Marcus.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/11572280/neiman-marcus-first-department-store-bankruptcy-coronavirus/

Neiman, which filed for bankruptcy in a Houston federal court, said it reached agreement with creditors for $675 million of debtor-in-possession financing to aid operations while it attempts to reorganize.

 

 

Neiman Marcus creditor eyes online business in bankruptcy fight

Hedge fund calls for court investigation into 2018 transfer of MyTheresa

https://www.ft.com/content/53785e1b-d96b-48a2-84d6-b2306d5e27fa

Marble Ridge, a hedge fund that holds $65m of the US department store chain’s debt, alleged Neiman benefited its private equity backers at the expense of creditors when it transferred its “crown jewel”, the MyTheresa ecommerce business, to a parent company almost two years ago.

In the old days (pre 2015) creditors used to fight about physical assets esp real estate.

No one appears to want commercial real estate any more.

[TheCountOfNowhere]

On 08/05/2020 at 11:04, spygirl said:

What's that you said 8% a year return... I'll have 200k worth....

Oh my mistake, 9.9%..

Manchester-based property development company Blackmore raised around £45m ($55m) selling ‘mini-bonds’ to the general public in 2016 and 2017. Investors were asked to put in a minimum of £5,000 per person and were promised a return as high as 9.9% on some bonds.

However, Blackmore had not paid any monthly interest since October 2019. Blackmore’s management blamed the slow property market and repeatedly reassured investors payments would be forthcoming. Bondholders recently lost patience and went to the courts to request the company be dissolved.

So, 100k invested. 9k for 2 years = 118k.

Then bond price falls to 30p in £, so 35k return.

Real return of  -75% max.

Sounds like fraudster taking advantage of the 'House prices only go up' mania 

[spygirl]

2 minutes ago, TheCountOfNowhere said:

Sounds like fraudster taking advantage of the 'House prices only go up' mania 

More like ZIRP, with a dust of propordee magic.

All the idiots see with these gormless investments are the yield and property - see the Gavin Woodhouse thread.

These unregulated investments need regulating, so only leopleclassed as sophisticated investor invest.

I've gone thru these junk schemes with relatives -

I'm not getting anything for my money in the bank. These will give me 8% a year, then buy the hotel room off me in 10 years time. 

 

[leonardratso]

there are many that 'look too good to be true' yet they still pile in, theres a reason the bank is offereing 1% or usually less.

[Hopeful]

On 06/05/2020 at 15:48, sancho panza said:

'Further store closures loom as Clarks calls in KPMG, Deloitte and PwC'

https://www.retailgazette.co.uk/blog/2020/05/coronavirus-clarks-calls-in-kpmg-deloitte-and-pwc-to-explore-restructuring/

Last year, the 195-year old retailer had called for management consultant McKinsey to undertake a review of its strategy.

It has since been in talks with its adviser and investment bank Rothschild as it prepares to close a small number of loss-making stores which will see their leases expire soon.

Nevertheless, the decision to draft in the accountancy firms could mean Clarks is preparing to close a larger number of stores in some of the countries it operates.

Clarks said it is continuing to face “fast-changing challenges” due to the rise of economic and political uncertainty.

The retailer denied last month that it would be exploring a CVA – an insolvency which many retailers have used to undergo a radical restructuring.

Clarks has furloughed thousands of its store staff under the government’s Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme, and has been assessing options for the remainder of its workforce.

The retailer is expected to reveal the next step in the next few months as chief executive Giorgio Presca drafts up new plans.

Clarks trades from about 345 stores in the UK.

Oh dear, never mind

It's just what happens when you trash your brand with shoes that i) look as if they were designed for Ali Bongo ii) have outsourced production iii) use inferior materials wherever possible, iv) cost too much for their quality and v) last no longer than your competitors much cheaper crap.

Edited May 12, 2020 by Hopeful

[gibbon]

1 hour ago, Hopeful said:

Oh dear, never mind

It's just what happens when you trash your brand with shoes that i) look as if they were designed for Ali Bongo ii) have outsourced production iii) use inferior materials wherever possible, iv) cost too much for their quality and v) last no longer than your competitors much cheaper crap.

They went all in on a race to the bottom. The problem is they finally hit it.

[Hopeful]

1 minute ago, gibbon said:

They went all in on a race to the bottom. The problem is they finally hit it.

Yep, One time, I'd only by Clark's unless I wanted leather Oxfords

Wouldn't even look at their range now

Now, I mainly glue my old shoes back together

 

[gibbon]

1 minute ago, Hopeful said:

Yep, One time, I'd only by Clark's unless I wanted leather Oxfords

Wouldn't even look at their range now

Now, I mainly glue my old shoes back together

 

I just buy stuff from the supermarkets, glue them back with fabric glue when they start coming away from the soles for a extra month or two of wear then bin them then just get another £10 pair.

[Hopeful]

3 minutes ago, gibbon said:

I just buy stuff from the supermarkets, glue them back with fabric glue when they start coming away from the soles for a extra month or two of wear then bin them then just get another £10 pair.

I just have a thing about not having any plastic associated with the uppers  of my shoes. Not sure if you can get that in supermarke ranges ?

Annoys the crap out of me when they put a plastic lining or man made material lining in shoes with leather uppers.

Unless sport shoes (would only wear them when doing the sport - never wear trainers as shoes) and trekking sandals

Edited May 12, 2020 by Hopeful

[JFK]

Serves them right.  Clarks is a study in a brand which absolutely tanked with the usual suspects of shit quality,  keeping the same expensive prices, off shoring production to Vietnam etc,  trading/ hoodwinking on the brand image of yesteryear.  Fuck them.  The last 2 pairs of footwear i bought on sale were utter shit quality.  Shocking in how poor they are for the money demanding