Wednesday, November 12, 2008

Linens n Things RIP

OK, this is probably a girl thing that I am not meant to understand, but try me anyway.

As you are all aware LNT is shutting down. It is currently in the hands of a liquidator, so you can throw away all your old coupons, because they are no longer accepted, not even at BB&B. Don't yet fall for the come on signs outside 20-40% off. There are no bargains to be had ...yet.

So my question is, Why did LNT fail, while Bed Bath and Beyond is succeeding beyond their own expectations? To my untrained eye they appear to be the same store, although I never understood their mutually assured to fail concept that only males pay retail.

What did I miss?

Toad

6 comments:

Mom on the Run said...

I'm wondering the same thing, although I think it probably has more to do with the financial strength of their company rather than their merchandise and marketing (which is identical, IMO, to BB&B).

They built several new stores here, while BB&B has just been in a holding pattern. Too much expansion and now no cash, perhaps?

sumner_enterprises said...

Well, this is what happened. In 2005, LNT went from a public traded company to a privately held company. The large buyout firm, Apollo Management is the group that bought the company. They paid $1.5 Billion dollars for LNT, which half was paid in cash and the other half was financed. Throughout the years, the company tried very hard to separate themselves as a Bed Bath and Beyond imitator with different merchandising and advertisitng strategies which, all did not work. They busted profit margins by deep discounted sales and the public did not respond well. They tried a department store strategy which did not work in this big box retailer. With the housing market decline and economy the company was losing 30-40 million dollars a month, and in May could not pay a $69 million interest payment to the loan which caused the company to file bankruptcy. They closed around 200 stores over the summer, secured another $700 million dollar line of credit, which took the debt of this company into billions of dollars and the company continued to lose $40 million dollars a month which after a few months of that, and no other buyer, gave the company no choice but to close all doors. I am a manager for the company, and have been for 7 years. It sucks that at the end of the year, I have no job. But that is what happened.

Toad said...

And now we know. I am sorry for your impending loss. Mrs. T and I shopped there a lot.

ms. mindless said...

uncle remus arrived at school today! i couldn't wait and read the first three stories right away! the minis loved them. thanks so much for the idea. they also loved the fake [sort of] southern accent that i put on to read them. they sound so much better southern!

Toad said...

I glad the kids enjoyed them. They were written Southern, they should be told southern.

Can't wait for the backlash when the parents find out you're reading UR to them.

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