Six months ago we wondered what would happen if General Growth Properties, the second largest mall operator in the country, filed for bankruptcy.
CNN mentioned the very real possibility of their demise and now, after officially filing for bankruptcy this morning, they have the distinction of being one of the biggest real estate failures in US history and one of the largest failures of a non-financial firm within the current economic meltdown.
The company recently defaulted on loads of mortgages and bonds while trying, unsuccessfully, to sell off at least a few of their properties. There’s speculation as to whether or not other mall companies will buy out the property or take managing control, but as of today, the outlook’s slightly less positive.
We tend to forget about malls, living in New York, but they really are the only way to shop in most suburbs. So has everyone actually given up shopping, are they shopping online, or are retailers just terrified of committing to mall space?
WWD just reported that the month of January saw 600,000 jobs cut from the American economy, 8,600 of which were from department stores.
This news comes right on the heels of yesterday’s department store news, that the S&P’s Ratings Services has placed six department stores - Dillard’s, Macy’s, Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, J.C. Penney and Sears - on credit watch, which means any or all of those companies could have their credit ratings lowered, and we all know what that means.
In fact, Bon-Ton, Kohl’s and Saks have all recently had their credit ratings lowered from “stable” to “negative”.
Our advice? If you’ve been holding on to some gift cards from any of those stores, use them.
We have no idea why, we have no idea how, but here’s what we do know:
50 Cent is starting his own skin care line.
Yahoo’s reporting that he’s putting the finishing touches on a grooming line for men, for which we sincerely hope he’s created a product called In Da Scrub.
Of course, Yahoo casually mentions that their original source is the Daily Mirror, so it may take a couple days for 50 to appear at a press conference where he denies this incredibly silly sounding rumor and announces his inevitable denim line instead.
In the meantime, can anyone else think of good product names for 50’s line? Bonus points if you can work in Magic Stick.
Five months after Jane closed, its super editor Brandon Holley has announced her next move:
She’s overseeing lifestyle content for Yahoo, including astrology, food, health, and technology.
Mediaweek reports that Brandon hasn’t commented on her new position, but the job certainly makes sense for the editor who added a lot of substantial content to the Jane website, and also brought a perspective to ELLEgirl that went beyond clothes and boys - they were the first magazine to put Mischa Barton on their cover, and the only teen magazine to have a dedicated music issue since Sassy.
It’s no secret that everyone at Fashionista loved Jane and ELLEgirl - we’ll be watching the Yahoo pages in hopes that some of the same spirit comes through.
