Tag Archives: bankruptcy

Century Plaza losing last anchor store

The Birmingham News is reporting that Sears Holdings, Inc. has announced plans to close the Sears location at Century Plaza this spring, citing “business reasons.”

The department store was the last of the major anchor stores that once called the 34-year old mall home. 

The announcement was made one day after it was reported that Century Plaza’s owner, Chicago’s General Growth Properties, owes more than $1.2 billion in debt and that they are investigating alternative financing solutions. If they cannot find one, the company may be forced to file for bankruptcy protection.

The location is tentatively set to close on May 31, after which you may find some of the 79 employees at the other Birmingham area locations in Fairfield and at The Galleria.

Ritz Camera files for bankruptcy

Ritz Camera Centers, Inc., which at more than 1,ooo locations in 45 states, presumably makes it the world’s largest camera chain, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection yesterday. Locally, the company operates as Wolf Camera, with six locations in the metro Birmingham area and 10 overall statewide.

Its online component, Ritz Interactive, is a separate company, though the announcement is sure to have an impact on the e-commerce side of things. Ritz Camera Centers serves as the web company’s largest supplier.

They still plan to operate during the restructuring.

Bruno’s files Chapter 11

Just in case you haven’t heard the news, Birmingham, AL-based Bruno’s Supermarkets has filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy earlier today. The press release states that operations will be restructured. The company last filed for Chapter 11 in 1998. 

We’d tell you more, but then you wouldn’t have a reason to check out the press release for yourself, now would you?

How much for that TV?

That could be one of many questions asked by customers that choose to visit Circuit City locations in Birmingham and nationwide as the electronics retailer announced that it was filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection earlier this morning. The publicly traded company once traded for $8.54 – its current value at the time of this post was $0.11 and they’d just announced last week that they would be closing 20% of their stores, including one that recently opened in Trussville. Reports had been suggesting that it would be bankruptcy or closings, but not both. The company will stay open and they still have a location in Hoover during their current reorganization, easily accessible for the upcoming holiday shopping season.

Leprechaun watch is in effect

We were hoping that our readers would be kind enough to check their local Bennigan’s or Steak & Ale location on their way home. If they were planning to meet up with friends after work, they may want to set up a back up plan as the restaurant chains’ parent company filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy earlier today.

While all locations are not supposed to be affected by the change, there’s no real way to check in with the company since both websites have been slammed for the better part of the afternoon. Bennigan’s MySpace profile on the other hand is taking traffic quite well.

So, just let us know… thanks 🙂