Sale Alert - Ritz Camera closing stores

Greetings Blog World!

A friend of a friend of mine works in managment at the Ritz camera in downtown Portland, ME and the word is - that store is closing AND Ritz is closing other stores around the US.

AND huge savings can be found at all Ritz stores in this transitional period.

Happy Shopping!

Sale Watch - Possible Store Closings

There is a lot of buzz about finance in the news lately so here is a list of stores in trouble. Some of these stores will be closing multiple locations, others might just be closing. Either way it's a chance for a savy shopper to find some great sales, that being said I would absolutely not buy a gift card from the following places:

Closing:
Circuit City
Linens N' Things
Meryns
Sharper Image

Closing some locations and/or in serious financial trouble:
Ann Taylor
Catherine's
Eddie Bauer
Fashion Bug
Gap
Kmart
Lane Bryant
Pacific Sunwear
Sears
Starbucks
Timberland
Zales

Also:
Sprint Nextel cellphones are in big trouble. My first cell phone was with Sprint. I left them for Verizon. I have to say that I absolutley *love* Verizon. Not only does Verizon work in the teenie tiny town I am from (where my parents still live), but they have better customer service, better plans, and of course better coverage than Sprint.

One of my good friends in DC had a gift card for Circuit City and has had the worst time trying to redeem it. The store she went to first refused to honor her gift card and then told her they no longer carried what she needed. She ended up with nothing but a headache. They did tell her that they will be accepting gift cards until the end of March, but they gave her the impression that that might not be the case without actually saying so.

If you have gift cards for any of the stores on this list I would use them *NOW* because you never know what tomorrow will bring and while I think we are in store for better times ahead not all of these stores will still be around when the tough times are over, so better to be safe than sorry with your gift cards.

I think once our economy rights itself it will be a great time for local businesses to find and /or keep their niches in the market and it will be exciting times for savy business people.

Huge Discount Watch: *Macy's* and *Bloomingdales*

Macy's just announced that they will be closing ELEVEN stores in NINE states.

Clearance sales will start next week at the affected stores.

The known locations are:
Los Angeles, West Palm Beach, Fla., Nashville, Tenn., and St. Louis.

There will be more, those are just the ones that are being announced now.

A little inside speculation and what to watch for:
Since sales are down for Macy's I am relatively certain that all Macy's will start offering great sales during this period of adjustment.

ALSO:
Since the parent company that owns Macy's also owns Bloomingdale's I suspect that there will be some amazing sales at your local Bloomingdales as well.

If you have credit cards for Macy's or Bloomingdales, first of all be certain you pay off those balances right away 25% interest yikes!, secondly check your mailboxes and emails for huge "savings passes" and discount coupons this season.

I'm a huge fan of my local Macy's and this is a great oppurtunity to pick up some wonderful items at big discounts.