Toys R Us- another recession victim?

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I keep hearing that the economy is bouncing back, then I hear about another round of layoffs and store closings. Seems like the economists just aren't sure.

Oh well, regardless of what they predict, I saw on the news last night that Toys R Us is closing 27 stores and laying off 1900 people. We have one of these stores locally, and I hope they don't close down. It is a nice place to find a bigger variety of toys and games. One of Cale's nieces works there as well. Recently our shopping mall has had an Ames store close,and an Office Max,and several smaller stores inside the mall as well.

-- Melissa in SE Ohio (me@home.net), January 29, 2002

Answers

I saw the same thing on the network news. Amazing. I feel sorry for the people who will get layed off, but in a capatilist society, those are the breaks. Hopefully, those same people will find a job in a more secure job.

Another thing I saw that was in danger in our shrinking society was that day care facilities were at risk. The logic was that with less cash, the cost of sending your child to day care is saved by switching to a relative, neighbor at lessor cost or mom staying at home instead of working. Sometimes, when you do the math, it is actually cheaper for one parent to stay home and raise their child. I'm not pointing any fingers at anybody; I have a three year old watched by a neighbor who watches her grandchildren also, because both my wife and I work. So I'm not sure that this is bad news or not. Not changing original question; just expanding a thought.

-- j.r. guerra in s. tx. (jrguerra@boultinghousesimpson.com), January 29, 2002.


You're right j.r.! Since I do income taxes, I do the math all the time for people, and that second job usually doesn't help much if you are paying for daycare and all of the associated expenses. I had one former working Mom tell me she never had so much money until she quit her job!

-- Melissa in SE Ohio (me@home.net), January 29, 2002.

My Grandfather thinks that some of the problems these big stores are having is that they didn't plan the retirement packages well enough. He worked for Sears for twenty years then retired-he's been retired twenty years! Theyve paid him as much in retirement as when he was working A lot of these stores-K-mart,Lowes Toys etc didn't plan on having people stay with them to achieve the retirement package-you can see a K-Mart Executive hanging around twenty years, but people didn't think the cashiers, and stock people would. Its not the total problem, of course, but it is a factor.

-- Kelly (KY) (homearts2002@yahoo.com), January 30, 2002.

Did you see that Global Crossings also filed for bankruptcy? According to our paper their "insolvency is the fourth largest public company bankruptcy, in terms of assets, in U.S. History...". Their shareholders could be left with worthless stock.

Global is the company that our internet service is through.

-- Terry - NW Ohio (aunt_tm@hotmail.com), January 30, 2002.


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