Also: Applied Materials To Let Go Up to 1,300 Workers; and Job Cuts Slowing Notably
Bakers Footwear Group Inc. is restructuring its business operations through a formal Chapter 11 reorganization process following a string of quarterly losses and and recent lower than planned sales.
The St. Louis, MO-based company operates 215 stores nationwide and employs 459 full-time employees and 3,463 part-time employees.
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Bakers Footwear incurred net losses of $11 million and $9.3 million in fiscal years 2011 and 2010, respectively. 2012 comparable-store sales have decreased 5.9%, which increased liquidity pressures on the firm.
Bakers Footwear has agreed to sale and assign leases for up to 52 stores to Aldo U.S. Inc. for up to $6.375 million in cash, which is intended to close in three stages from January 2013 through June 2013. The retailer also identified 55 other store locations in which it does not intend to continue operations long-term.
The retailer will conduct closing sales at the combined 107 stores
Property, City, State
· Pinnacle Hills Promenade, Rogers, AR
· Chandler Fashion Square, Chandler, AZ
· Arrowhead Towne Center, Glendale, AZ
· Westfield Santa Anita, Arcadia, CA
· Valley Plaza Mall, Bakersfield, CA
· Topanga Plaza (Wild Pair), Canoga Park, CA
· Topanga Plaza (Bakers), Canoga Park, CA
· Stonewood Center, Downey, CA
· Imperial Valley Mall, El Centro, CA
· Fresno Fashion Fair, Fresno, CA
· Glendale Galleria (Bakers), Glendale, CA
· Irvine Spectrum Center, Irvine, CA
· The Shops at Montebello, Montebello, CA
· Plaza Bonita, National City, CA
· Northridge Fashion Center, Northridge, CA
· Ontario Mills, Ontario, CA
· The Outlets at Orange, Orange, CA
· Stoneridge Shopping Center, Pleasanton, CA
· Arden Fair Mall, Sacramento, CA
· Shops at Tanforan, San Bruno, CA
· San Francisco Centre, San Francisco, CA
· Del Amo Fashion Center (Wild Pair), Torrance, CA
· West Farms Mall, Farmington, CT
· Connecticut Post Mall, Milford, CT
· Stamford Town Center, Stamford, CT
· Crystal Mall, Waterford, CT
· Christiana Mall, Newark, DE
· Altamonte Mall, Altamonte Springs, FL
· Aventura Mall, Aventura, FL
· Brandon Town Center, Brandon, FL
· Coral Square, Coral Springs, FL
· Edison Mall, Ft. Myers, FL
· Miami International Mall, Miami, FL
· Dadeland Mall, Miami, FL
· Coastland Mall, Naples, FL
· Broward Mall, Pleasanton, FL
· International Plaza, Tampa, FL
· Perimeter Mall, Atlanta, GA
· Northlake Mall, Atlanta, GA
· Gwinnett Place, Duluth, GA
· Boise Towne Square, Boise, ID
· Fox Valley Center, Aurora, IL
· Promenade at Bolingbrook South, Bolingbrook, IL
· Ford City Shopping Center, Chicago, IL
· State Street, Chicago, IL
· Orland Square Shopping Center, Orland Park, IL
· Woodfield Mall, Schaumberg, IL
· White Oaks Mall, Springfield, IL
· Circle Centre Mall, Indianapolis, IN
· Mall of Louisiana, Baton Rouge, LA
· Mall of Acadiana, Lafayette, LA
· Braintree Mall, Braintree, MA
· Burlington Mall, Burlington, MA
· Emerald Square, North Attleboro, MA
· Westfield Annapolis, Annapolis, MD
· The Mall in Columbia, Columbia, MD
· Great Lakes Crossing Outlets, Auburn Hills, MI
· Woodland Mall, Kentwood, MI
· Lakeside Mall, Sterling Heights, MI
· Oakland Mall, Troy, MI
· Chesterfield Mall, Chesterfield, MO
· Battlefield Mall, Springfield, MO
· Mall at Rockingham, Salem, NH
· Menlo Park (Wild Pair), Edison, NJ
· Menlo Park Mall (Bakers), Edison, NJ
· Newport Centre, Jersey City, NJ
· Livingston Mall, Livingston, NJ
· NewPark Mall, Newark, NJ
· Rockaway Town Square, Rockaway, NJ
· Willowbrook Mall, Wayne, NJ
· Coronado Center, Albuquerque, NM
· Miracle Mile Shops (Bakers), Las Vegas, NV
· South Shore Mall, Bay Shore, NY
· Fulton Street, Brooklyn, NY
· Roosevelt Field Mall, Garden City, NY
· Smith Haven Mall, Lake Grove, NY
· 30-72 Steinway St., Queens, NY
· Green Acres Mall, Valley Stream, NY
· Palisades Center, West Nyack, NY
· Jefferson Valley Mall, Yorktown Heights, NY
· Beachwood Place, Beachwood, OH
· Kenwood Towne Centre, Cincinnati, OH
· Easton Town Center, Columbus, OH
· The Mall at Tuttle Crossing, Dublin, OH
· Franklin Park Mall, Toledo, OH
· Woodland Hills, Tulsa, OK
· Park City Center, Lancaster, PA
· Lehigh Valley Mall, Whitehall, PA
· Providence Place, Providence, RI
· Columbiana Centre, Columbia, SC
· Haywood Mall, Greenville, SC
· Hamilton Place, Chattanooga, TN
· La Palmera, Corpus Christi, TX
· Cielo Vista Mall, El Paso, TX
· Baybrook Mall, Friendswood, TX
· Memorial City Mall, Houston, TX
· The Houston Galleria, Houston, TX
· Willowbrook Mall, Houston, TX
· Collin Creek Mall, Plano, TX
· The Shops at La Cantera, San Antonio, TX
· Rivercenter, San Antonio, TX
· The Woodlands Mall, The Woodlands, TX
· Fair Oaks, Fairfax, VA
· Tysons Corner Center, McLean, VA
· Potomac Mills, Prince William, VA
· Short Pump Town Center, Richmond, VA
· Mayfair Mall, Wauwatosa, WI
Applied Materials To Furlough Up to 1,300 Workers
Applied Materials Inc. approved a restructuring plan that includes a realignment of its global workforce. Under the plan, Santa Clara, CA-based Applied Materials will implement a voluntary retirement program and other workforce reduction actions that are expected to affect from 900 to 1,300 of its workers in the U.S., or 6% to 9% of its global workforce.
The firm expects to substantially complete the plan by the end of the third quarter of fiscal 2013.
Job Cuts Slowing Notably
Employers may not be hiring but at least they're not laying off nearly as many as they have in years past. The three months ended Sept. 30 was one of the slowest job-cutting quarters in more than a decade.
Employers announced just 102,910 job cuts in the third quarter, down 27% from the previous quarter (139,997), and 56% lower than the third quarter of 2011 (233,258). It was the lowest quarterly total since the second quarter of 2000, when planned layoffs numbered 81,568, according to the latest report by global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas Inc.
Employers have now announced 386,001 planned job cuts in 2012, which is 19% fewer than the 479,064 job cuts recorded by this point last year. One has to go back to 1997 to find fewer job cuts announced through the first nine months of the year. That year, employers announced 281,496 job cuts through September.
Contributing to the decline in monthly job cut figures is the significant drop-off in the number of layoffs announced by the government sector. These employers announced just 14,186 job cuts through September, compared to 119,027 by this point in 2011.
The biggest job-cutting industry last month was energy, which announced 3,393 job cuts in September. To put that figure in perspective, the top job-cutting sector a year ago (government) announced 54,182 layoffs.
"Layoffs are definitely at pre-recession levels. Unfortunately, hiring has not returned to those levels. A combination of factors, including the upcoming election, ongoing instability in Europe, growing signs of weakness in Asia and a host of other issues, are keeping companies from making any major expansion or hiring moves" said John A. Challenger, chief executive officer of Challenger, Gray & Christmas.
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