Take This Gift Card and Shove It!

Gift cards have been around for a long time and many of us like giving them as gifts, especially around the holidays. BE CAREFUL with it this year! Many stores will be closing in 2009 and your gifts may become WORTHLESS pieces of plastic.

A technique called "Bankruptcy Planning" incorporates the selling of gift cards as a strategic business move for companies that are having financial issues. They sell the gift cards, yet later on, many of them will not honor the very gift cards they sold mere weeks prior.

It is all perfectly legal and the consumer has no recourse. The following stores MAY present this problem with their gift cards:

Circuit City (filed Chapter 11)

Ann Taylor 117 stores nationwide closing;

Lane Bryant, Fashion Bug, and Catherine's to close 150 stores nationwide;

Eddie Bauer to close stores27 stores and more after January;

Cache will close all stores;

Talbots closing down specialty stores;

J. Jill closing all stores (owned by Talbots);

Pacific Sunwear (also owned by Talbots);

GAP closing 85 stores;

Footlocker closing 140 stores, more to close after January;

Wickes Furniture closing down;

Levitz closing down remaining stores;

Bombay closing remaining stores;

Zales closing down 82 stores and 105 after January;

Whitehall closing all stores;

Piercing Pagoda closing all stores;

Disney closing 98 stores and will close more after January.

Home Depot closing 15 stores, 1 in NJ (New Brunswick);

Macys to close 9 stores after January;

Linens and Things closing all stores;

Movie Galley closing all stores;

Pep Boys Closing 33 stores;

Sprint/Nextel closing 133 stores;

JC Penney closing a number of stores after January;

Ethan Allen] closing down 12 stores.

Wilson Leather closing down all stores

Sharper Image closing down all stores

K B Toys closing 356 stores

Loews to close down some stores

Dillard's to close some stores

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