Retail Watchers

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ann-tayl ... 43030.html

Their stores have struggled for years.

Way too many stores, in the wrong locations (malls). All this "work from home" will significantly hurt demand for the clothing they sell.

Wonder if the mall landlords will swoop in on this one too. They can't bail out every retailer that goes under to keep their malls viable.. or can they? Run the retailers at break-even (which may be possible buying them out of bankruptcy) and make up for it on whatever tenants in the mall actually pay rent...

Ascena announced that they will be closing 1600 stores:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/20 ... 395103002/

They are closing the entire Catherine's chain, and are planning to convert the Justice brand to an online format. Lane Bryant, Ann Taylor, and Loft are closing many locations as well.

What they are doing with Justice makes some sense as most of their stores are located in malls. Catherine's, however, seemed to mostly have stores in strip malls that were not always in the greatest locations. I can't recall ever seeing that chain in an enclosed mall. The other chains are a mix of both.

One other thing that hasn't helped:
My sister has ordered clothing online from Catherine's and Lane Bryant during the shutdowns, and went on and on about how long it took for the orders to arrive and how little communication they provided, one order took over a month to arrive. She had also ordered clothing from Kohl's, and remarked about how it seemed close to normal. Sounds like Ascena's future may be doomed if they can't handle online ordering in a timely manner.

Super S wrote: ↑July 24th, 2020, 8:31 amOne other thing that hasn't helped:
My sister has ordered clothing online from Catherine's and Lane Bryant during the shutdowns, and went on and on about how long it took for the orders to arrive and how little communication they provided, one order took over a month to arrive. She had also ordered clothing from Kohl's, and remarked about how it seemed close to normal. Sounds like Ascena's future may be doomed if they can't handle online ordering in a timely manner.

I've had the same problem with Macy's. I ordered some shorts and shirts three weeks ago and still haven't received three of the eight items ordered.

Amazon is much better but their selection isn't as good.

klkla wrote: ↑July 24th, 2020, 6:39 pm

Super S wrote: ↑July 24th, 2020, 8:31 amOne other thing that hasn't helped:
My sister has ordered clothing online from Catherine's and Lane Bryant during the shutdowns, and went on and on about how long it took for the orders to arrive and how little communication they provided, one order took over a month to arrive. She had also ordered clothing from Kohl's, and remarked about how it seemed close to normal. Sounds like Ascena's future may be doomed if they can't handle online ordering in a timely manner.

I've had the same problem with Macy's. I ordered some shorts and shirts three weeks ago and still haven't received three of the eight items ordered.

Amazon is much better but their selection isn't as good.

It might be better for these brands if they open a "store" on Amazon. If they have their products FBA (Fulfilled By Amazon), they might have a better chance of a viable future. If they can't handle online orders through their own websites, someone else should handle fulfillment if they can't do it themselves.

The benefits of FBA is free 2-day shipping in most cases. This may be the only way for these brands to survive right now.

A lot of businesses all but closed down their online retail in March-April. Even Amazon had significant delays despite their sweatshop conditions.

The real problem is the fundamentals of their business. Ann Taylor made no sense for them--an upper middle brow, career woman chain among a bunch of off-price and lower/mid priced, plus size clothing stores. Lane Bryant was a charter tenant in many malls but pulled out of most of them a long time ago---they're probably not a good candidate for mall landlord buyout. They seem to have a lot of literal overlap with Catherine's--same shopping centers, although Catherine's apparently sells to an older demographic. Lane Bryant started out as primarily direct mail---whether they've been able to preserve that business is a probably going to be a big part of whether they survive.

The other thing is that these chains have been bought and sold numerous times, so their parent is probably loaded up with debt.

klkla wrote: ↑July 24th, 2020, 6:39 pm

Super S wrote: ↑July 24th, 2020, 8:31 amOne other thing that hasn't helped:
My sister has ordered clothing online from Catherine's and Lane Bryant during the shutdowns, and went on and on about how long it took for the orders to arrive and how little communication they provided, one order took over a month to arrive. She had also ordered clothing from Kohl's, and remarked about how it seemed close to normal. Sounds like Ascena's future may be doomed if they can't handle online ordering in a timely manner.

I've had the same problem with Macy's. I ordered some shorts and shirts three weeks ago and still haven't received three of the eight items ordered.

Amazon is much better but their selection isn't as good.

I agree BUT when ordering larger items with Amazon and when they use UPS.............it is a nightmare! I wish Amazon would use FEDEX or someone else (including creating their own).

veteran+ wrote: ↑July 25th, 2020, 6:54 am

klkla wrote: ↑July 24th, 2020, 6:39 pm

Super S wrote: ↑July 24th, 2020, 8:31 amOne other thing that hasn't helped:
My sister has ordered clothing online from Catherine's and Lane Bryant during the shutdowns, and went on and on about how long it took for the orders to arrive and how little communication they provided, one order took over a month to arrive. She had also ordered clothing from Kohl's, and remarked about how it seemed close to normal. Sounds like Ascena's future may be doomed if they can't handle online ordering in a timely manner.

I've had the same problem with Macy's. I ordered some shorts and shirts three weeks ago and still haven't received three of the eight items ordered.

Amazon is much better but their selection isn't as good.

I agree BUT when ordering larger items with Amazon and when they use UPS.............it is a nightmare! I wish Amazon would use FEDEX or someone else (including creating their own).

They use USPS, too, which is a huge pain when a large package (like a water cooler) has to be delivered to an apartment complex.

rwsandiego wrote: ↑July 25th, 2020, 9:03 am They use USPS, too, which is a huge pain when a large package (like a water cooler) has to be delivered to an apartment complex.

Being a retired Letter Carrier, been there done that. Two most interesting items I ever delivered were a full-sized stainless steel kitchen sink (which took up almost all of the room in the cargo area and was halfway into the route so I had to work around it until after lunch) and a tankless water heater of all things.