A blog about societal, cultural, and civilizational collapse, and how to stave it off or survive it. Named after the legendary character "Crazy Eddie" in Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle's "The Mote in God's Eye." Expect news and views about culture, politics, economics, technology, and science fiction.
Showing posts with label Bright Sun Films. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bright Sun Films. Show all posts
Since the late 1980s, Hollywood Video had grown to become the world's second largest video rental store. With well over 2,000 locations and 30,000 employees, the billion dollar chain was truly enormous, capitalizing on the insatiable growth of the video rental market. However, after an acquisition by Movie Gallery and two subsequent bankruptcies, it all came crashing down. Join me as we find out why.
Oh, look, a leveraged buyout and private equity! Why am I not surprised? Also, Netflix played the role that Amazon usually plays, the big disruptive competitor representing the future of the sector.
On a more personal note, I rented movies from Hollywood Video when I was a homeowner in Ann Arbor through most of the 1990s. When I got divorced and moved to the Irish Hills, I passed the Blockbuster at the edge of town when my kids visited me for the weekend, not the Hollywood Video, so I rented from there. Later, I became a customer of Family Video. Blockbuster's decline made enough news that Business Insider included it among ten of the companies that went out of business last decade and I watched a video about the last Family Video in Michigan that closed in 2021. I didn't even notice when Hollywood Video went out of business. I just looked around one day and noticed there weren't any. Thanks to Jake Williams of Bright Sun Films for explaining how and when that happened.
Evolving from a robotics company working in government contracts and toy contract work, iRobot eventually released a consumer product of their own, the Roomba, that would define not only their entire corporate future, but the industry that they essentially created. However, just 4 years after their all time peak in revenue and popularity, the company had declared bankruptcy. Join me in this video as we find out what happened to iRobot and their flagship product line, the Roomba robot vacuum.
It seems no tale of the Retail Apocalypse is complete without either private equity or Amazon, and this story has both, although in potentially helpful roles, not competitors or bad managers. Also, this is another example of a company that florished during the COVID-19 pandemic when people were at home, then got into trouble when they returned to work, although that wasn't the primary issue; competition and weak innovation were.
The company that popularized the robot vacuum has been struggling. This video outlines some of the main reasons behind those struggles.
Company Man Mike made a list of the reasons for iRobot's decline.
As I wrote above, competition and weak innovation were the main reasons for iRobot's decline. Using cameras instead of LIDAR is, as Company Man Mike pointed out, one of the reasons why Tesla's self-driving technology is inferior to Waymo's. I hadn't even considered the privacy issues with cameras instead of LIDAR, but they're valid. As for relying on vacuum sales over other applications and markets, iRobot made the decision to sell their military products early on and it made sense at the time. As for other consumer products, it wasn't for lack of trying. iRobot tried, but failed.
That's a wrap for today. Stay tuned for more awards show coverage.
Today's evergreen educational entry features Bankrupt - Cicis Pizza by Bright Sun Films, a tale of the Retail Apocalypse.
Starting in the mid 1980's, Cicis Pizza was always the go-to pizza restaurant for cheap bites and great value. With their no-frills locations, cheap prices and innovative buffet concept, the restaurant became a massive success with hundreds of locations across the country. However, things have changed and following a bankruptcy, their once dominating presence has been severely diminished. Join me as we find out why.
As user
tcbgarage2845 wrote in his comment, "Private equity, Leveraged buyouts, Covid 19 and Chapter 11 bankruptcy! The whole gang is here." Indeed.
As I've written several times, no bankrupt company's story is complete without both Bright Sun Films and Company Man making videos about it, so I'm sharing Company Man Mike asking The Decline of CiCi's Pizza...What Happened?
Cici's pizza has been on the decline for more than a decade now. What was once the 5th largest pizza chain in the U.S. has fallen to number 10. This video takes a look at how they grew so large and theorizes where they went wrong.
There is also an AI-generated video summary.
CiCi's Pizza: from a humble beginning to a top-five pizza chain, this video explores the brand's rise and subsequent decline. The documentary analyzes the company's unique buffet model and its impact on CiCi's growth trajectory. It also examines factors that may have contributed to its recent struggles.
Company Man Mike uploaded this video on October 14, 2020, during the height of the pandemic, yet he didn't mention it. I'm surprised. Also, he produced this before CiCi's declared bankruptcy and before he began creating his lists of reasons for failure. Too bad — those lists are right up with his bar charts and line graphs among my favorite parts of Company Man Mike's videos. At least this video has plenty of those, along with enough shots of the menu items to make me hungry.
That's a wrap for today's lesson showing what not to do in business. Stay tuned for the Sunday entertainment feature.
The controversial airline has shut down. This video outlines five of the biggest reasons behind its collapse.
Here is Company Man Mike's list of reasons for its failure.
I'm going to take Company Man's suggestion and embed Spirit Airlines - Why They're Hated to elaborate on his first point, negative reputation.
Spirit Airlines is among the most disliked companies out there. This video profiles the company while attempting to identify the reasons behind all the hatred.
Its bad reputation is the reason why the only times I've mentioned Spirit Airlines on this blog was when they were the butt of jokes on SNL, Jimmy Kimmel, and SNL again, the first two for rescue attempts and the final time for its failure. Sorry, no Daily Show. Since Company Man likes lists, here's the one he created for this video.
Fees and cost cutting tie into the first list's second point about tough competition, but the advertising alone would have made the company into a joke. Who needs late night comedians to make fun of you when your ad agency does the work for them?
I often write that no bankrupt company's story is complete without both Company Man and Bright Sun Films making videos about them. It turns out Jake Williams of Bright Sun Films already uploaded Bankrupt - Spirit Airlines last year.
Formed from a humble air carrier operation in 1990, Spirit Airlines has gone onto pioneer the ultra low cost budget carrier model in America, becoming known (perhaps infamously) as the cheapest airline in the skies. However, times have changed and their business model is now looking like a liability rather than an asset. Join me today as we find how this notable airline went from billions in revenue, to bankruptcy in just a few years.
It's always a good day when I learn something new and, between Jake and Company Man Mike, I learned that Spirit Airlines began as a Michigan company, they flew Airbus planes, that the company began their expansion by taking advantage of other air carriers' troubles because conflict in the Middle East caused high oil prices, and the last flight originated in Detroit, where the company began. That makes today a very good day!
For 34 years, Spirit Airlines made waves with its rock-bottom fares, racy advertising, and bright yellow planes. At its peak, it was the largest ultra-low-cost carrier in the US, selling flights to Florida for $39. But in May 2026, Spirit shut down completely. It canceled 9,000 flights and left staff with little information. So what happened to the low-cost behemoth? And what does its sudden closure mean for cheap airfare in America?
Other than more professional production values and journalists on-screen, Business Insider added little to the story of Spirit Airlines' rise, but it added quite a bit to the fall and everything to the impact. Donald "Hoover Harding Cleveland" Trump causing Spirit's troubles by attackingIran, raising oil prices, then offering to bail out the airline serves as an example of everything Trump touches dies. This time, it didn't even take a week! As for the grassroots effort to buy the airline, backed by its laid-off employees, I wish it luck, but would be pleasantly very surprised should it succeed. In the meantime, expect higher air fares on the routes Spirit flew.
That's a wrap for what is effectively a business obituary. Stay tuned for Mother'sDay.
Today's brief evergreen educational entry features the latest episode in Bright Sun Films series Bankrupt - Sbarro.
Since it started in New York in the 1950's, the Sbarro fast food chain had grown to well over 1,000 locations, many of which inside of shopping malls. The chain became a staple in casual, Italian food and was one of the most recognizable shopping mall institutions in America. However, by the 2010's, the brand would ultimately declare bankruptcy... twice. Join me to find out why.
Jake Williams of Bright Sun Films concentrated on the 2007 sale of the company to a private equity firm, followed by the Great Recession and the general decline of malls. As I wrote six years ago, "Sbarro's dependence on malls was helpful until the Great Recession but is hurting the chain now, as more than half of their stores have closed since the company's peak." Private equity taking over the company the first time couldn't have come under worse circumstances. On the other hand, the current private equity ownership has been good for the company so far, expanding it out of American malls to other countries and into other locations. Good news.
On the other hand, Jake had very little to say about the rest of Company Man Mike's list, mentioning ingredient costs first and briefly. He had very little bad to say about the food itself, confining his stale remark to the brand, and only briefly citing consumer comments about the product. For critiques of the food, I plan on turning to Weird History Food, which I featured in The rise and fall of Boston Market, a tale of the Retail Apocalypse for Flashback Friday, but not today. I'm running late because of the field trip I ran, so I'm going to be a good environmentalist by conserving that resource to use later.
Like many suburban malls in America, Westminster Mall was the classic indoor shopping experience when it opened in 1974. It lasted through renovations, recessions and major store closures, all continuing to be a local community hub. However, it would ultimately close in 2025 and in just a matter of weeks, it's interiors were completely trashed. After making headlines for it's steep decline, it seems now that the mall will best be known for the destruction that followed its closure. So join me today as we find out what happened to the once local California icon that was, the Westminster Mall.
Jake Williams managed to find an example of the entire rise and fall of the American mall in this one site. That bodes well for his next feature-length project of the same name. May it fare better than Closed forStorm, which showed great promise, but didn't make as much of a splash as Class Action Park. That was fun, but not very thoughtful; Defunctland made a smarter video on a much smaller budget.
That's a wrap for today. Stay tuned for something brief I can share in April, no fooling.
Since it's complete liquidation in 2018, the Toys R Us brand was seemingly dead. However, following its revival in 2019 with brand new stores, it appeared that the brand had a new lease on life. But, even that resurgence was plagued with issues and now with new owners, Toys R Us is back for a third time! Join me today for this updated look on what has happened with the iconic Toys R Us company.
While I'm happy to see Toys R Us return to the U.S., I'm sad to see what's happened to the brand in Canada and Australia. The Retail Apocalypse is not just an American phenomenon; just ask Hudson's Bay Company.
That's a wrap for today. Stay tuned for coverage of the television nominees at the Saturn Awards as tomorrow's Sunday entertainment feature.
Since its 1983 debut in Florida as a casual sports bar, Hooters grew exponentially through the 1980's and 90's, growing to become a massive brand across the world with hundreds of restaurants, tens of thousands of employees and a very controversial brand name which created a whole new segment in the industry. However despite all of this success and notoriety, the chain has struggled recently, ultimately filing for bankruptcy in 2025. Join me today as we find out what happened.
Jake Williams added to the story Company Man Mike told with Hooters Air and Hooters Casino, both of which failed because of issues with the brand, which didn't appeal to women, families, and upscale travelers. In addition, Millennials grew up with a poor perception of the brand. Also, Jake made a bigger deal of private equity's role in the story, noting that the same private equity firm owned both Hooters and TGI Fridays. As Jake joked, that ended well — not.
Speaking of endings, I closed my reaction to Company Man Mike's video by writing, "As for Hooters' identity crisis, I wish the chain good luck; they'll need it." That seems to be Jake's take, too.
Before Canada was even a country, some might say it was a company. That company was the iconic, Hudson's Bay Company, a brand which started as a fur trading post in 1670, then to a big box, department store retailer by the 20th century. But after 3 and a half centuries in business, the cornerstone brand has met it's end. Join me in this special episode of Bankrupt to find out how such a notable and beloved retailer ultimately filed for bankruptcy.
I have fond memories of shopping at The Bay, first when my family went to Canada on vacation during the early 1970s and then with my ex-girlfriend and her kids, who was living in Canada while I was dating her. In fact, my family was in Canada for the Hudson Bay Company's 300th birthday and ten-year-old me was impressed that any institution in North America was that old. News of Hudson's Bay going out of business after 355 years saddened me, almost as much as it did Jake. Of course, private equity played a big part in the demise of the company. If anything could kill something this venerable, private equity could. Combined with aggressive over-expansion, selling off a key asset (Zeller's, which is a story of its own), the COVID-19 pandemic, competition from Walmart and Amazon, and changing consumer habits, and the result was deadly.
After more than 350 years in business, Canada's oldest company is teetering on the brink of collapse — but who’s to blame? CBC’s Eli Glasner puts three key suspects under the department store interrogation light.
CBC didn't actually assign blame, but I'll agree with Jake; the owners, responding to incentives that are indifferent to the success of the business, just like they were indifferent to the cultural and historical significance of the company, were most at fault. I wish I were surprised; I've seen this before, beginning with KB Toys and Toys R Us. Ugh.
From its inception as a bar in New York, TGI Fridays great to become a massive restaurant brand across America and even the world. With well over 600 locations domestically and 70,000 employees company wide, it was truly an enormous chain. However despite it's meteoric growth, it would all come crashing down in just a few short years. Join me as I find out what happened to this iconic chain restaurant and how it ultimately declared bankruptcy.
Jake's take on why TGI Fridays ended up declaring bankruptcy was different from Company Man Mike's. Jake paid much less attention to competitors except at the end and much more on external factors, like the Great Recession, which initiated TGI Fridays' decline, and pandemic, which finally did the chain in. Company Man Mike also ignored private equity, which CNBC thought was behind TGI Fridays' and Red Lobster's bankruptcies. Jake made that a central part of the second half of the story, although he generally seemed to think that the private equity firms were at least trying.
TGI Fridays, widely considered the first singles bar in the U.S., filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in November, citing a problematic capital structure and fallout from the pandemic. The fast-casual restaurant chain has closed over 200 locations across the U.S. since 2019 and have even been kicked out of its headquarters in Dallas.
WSJ breaks down how the once happy hour hot spot lost its flair.
The Wall Street Journal added two factors that both Company Man Mike and Jake missed, whole business securitization and frequent leadership changes. The first is the kind of arcane financial arrangement that I'm not surprised WSJ caught but Mike and Jake ignored or glossed over, while the second is exactly the kind of thing Mike would normally catch. Now I'm wondering if Mike did his best work last November.
This may be the last time I blog about Party City until I run into reports of its last company-owned closing next month (the ones owned by franchisees will keep their doors open — for now) or Bright Sun Films uploads a video about the chain as part of his Bankrupt series. That may take a while, especially since he's Canadian and his country's Party City stores will remain open.
It took less than two full months, as Jake Williams of Bright Sun Films uploaded Bankrupt - Party City on Pi Day.
After growing to become the premier party supply store in America with nearly 1,000 stores and tens of thousands of employees, Party City was a force to be reckoned with in it's retail niche. However, as the years went on, the company began to struggle, ultimately filing for bankruptcy twice with it's most recent filing marking the end for the storied retailer. Join me today to find out what happened here.
I feel like no bankrupt company's story is fully told until both Company Man Mike and Jake Williams of Bright Sun Films have weighed in. Jake identified all the same issues Company Man did in his video, although Jake went into more narrative detail, such as better identifying the private equity firms, while using fewer graphs. In particular, he did the best job among all the sources I've featured of examining the helium shortage, which especially plagued Party City, but still deserves a post of its own. Being Canadian, Jake couldn't resist pointing out that the Canadian Party City stores remain open, just like he couldn't resist saying "the party is over for Party City." Sadly, it is.
Stay tuned for another Retail Apocalypse post tomorrow.
Well known across southern States in America, 99 Cents Only Stores was a growing company, focused on customer service and offering products at a gimmicky, yet very enticing price point... 99 cents. But after corporate takeovers and rising costs, this chain of around 300 locations would begin to struggle and ultimately declare bankruptcy. Join me to find out why.
I'm being a good environmentalist by recycling my reaction from May.
Jake joins Company Man Mike and Erik in that assessment and so do his viewers; the comments on this video nearly unanimously blame the leveraged buyout by private equity for the chain's demise. I'm joining them.
So concludes this tale of the RetailApocalypse. I might just return to this season's big story, the election, tomorrow. That is, if I don't cover hurricane season instead. Stay tuned.
The 2008 recession halted construction projects around North America, some of which would never get going again. The Bloomfield Park, master planned community was one such project. It began as a dream to bring New Urbanism to Michigan and build a spectacular, multi billion community. But following a legal and financial mess, the project was put on hold and would ultimately fall into disrepair. Join me today as we look into this fascinating, failed construction project and what happened to it!
I drove past the decaying white elephant of Bloomfield Park twice a month during 2015-2017 when I attended union local meetings and merely thought it was an abandoned shopping center. I knew it was abandoned after the real estate crash and Great Recession, but I didn't know any of the rest of the history that Jake presented. If I had, I wouldn't have merely marveled at the waste, which was already apparent at the time, but alternated between anger and despair at what could have been but never would be — a New Urbanist community in Oakland County. What a lost opportunity! Even a lifestyle center, which Ray "CityNerd" Delahanty derides as a "heinous land use," would have been an improvement. Sigh. At least the land got redeveloped, even if it wasn't into something nearly as inspiring as the original plan.
I'll get to CityNerd and his thoughts about urbanism some other time. Right now I am thanking Jake for teaching me about a formerly abandoned place in my own backyard. It's always a good day when I learn something new and I learned a lot from this video. I hope my readers agree.
I woke up this morning not feeling like covering the Emmy winners today. Instead, I'm examining a "SciFi is Now" topic, the possible end of physical media through a Retail Apocalypse story. I begin with Bright Sun Films' Bankrupt - Redbox.
From its origins as a convenience store kiosk created by the McDonald's corporation, Redbox grew to become a massive DVD rental brand with tens of thousands of locations across America. However in 2024, the company came crashing down and will soon be lost to time forever. Join me today to find out what happened to this beloved brand.
Rebox could have been another Netflix, but it declined instead. Its succession of parent companies didn't help, especially toward the end. The pandemic played its part, too. Just the same, I learned a lot from this video and it's always a good day when I learn something new, even if it's a bad day for Redbox.
This is a bigger story than just the bankruptcy and liquidation of Redbox's parent company. Erik of Retail Archaeology responded to the end of Redbox by asking Is Physical Media Dead?
In this episode of Retail Archaeology we take a look at the state of physical media at Target and Walmart and the demise of Redbox.
His answer is that physical media is still alive at Walmart, but it appears to be endangered elsewhere.
Vox's answer is "not exactly" and "reports of physical media's death may be greatly exaggerated." That's a lot better than what I was expecting to write, which was "not dead yet." I'm relieved.
Since the late 1960's, Red Lobster has grown to become an American seafood institution with over 650 restaurants and tens of thousands of employees. It's also one of the most successful casual restaurant chains to ever exist. So it was pretty surprising to many when they filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy in early 2024. However while many in the media reported on the famous Endless Shrimp as the culprit, the truth as to how this company fell so quickly is a bit more complicated. Join me today as we find out how this iconic chain ultimately declared bankruptcy.
I feel like no bankrupt company's story is fully told until both Company Man Mike and Jake Williams of Bright Sun Films have weighed in. Thanks to Jake's reporting, I have revised my opinion that private equity may not have been critical in Red Lobster's failure. Golden Gate Capital's decision to sell the properties the stores sat on and then lease them really did mess up the chain's cash flow. This was on top of the debt from the leveraged buyout. The only good news is that the bankruptcy didn't happen on their watch. Instead, Thai Union was left holding the bag, but not for long. As I wrote last month, "They're done with Red Lobster." Here's to hoping the new owners, whoever they are, have better luck.
That's a wrap for today's tale of the Retail Apocalypse, although I may return to restaurants to showcase Company Man Mike's video explaining why Red Lobster's former sister restaurant, Olive Garden, is still a success. Stay tuned.
Happy Wayback Wednesday! I'm observing today's social media day by sharing Bright Sun Film's latest, Bankrupt - Borders Book Store.
Since the 1970's, Borders Bookstores have been a place of comfort and peace for millions of shoppers. Their unique strategy of offering a cozy place to shop, with tens of thousands of highly trained employees was a winning one that earned the company billions in sales. But, it all came crashing down in 2011 and now, the brand is non existent. Join me today as we find out why.
While I didn't realize it at the time, the first Retail Apocalypse story I wrote about on this blog was the demise of BordersBooks. I thought it was like the bankruptcies of Jacobson's, whose space in Ann Arbor Borders occupied after Jacobson's moved out to Briarwood Mall, and Montgomery Ward's, which was the first anchor to abandon Northland Mall, the second Retail Apocalypse story I covered here. Both of those were weak companies that went under during a recession, which is when I expect businesses would fail. I thought much the same of Borders at the time, in addition to it being a personal loss. In retrospect, the failure of Borders was much bigger than that and turned out to be a taste of things to come.
At the time, I concentrated on what the store meant to me and outsourced my analysis of why it failed to a LiveJournal account where the analysis is now unavailable...the disappearance of that analysis was a big loss...[it described] a mismatch in corporate culture between the employees, who really believed in the way company had been run, and the top executives, who I think caught something bad when KMart owned the company, the same thing that eventually caught up with both KMart and Sears. Sigh.
All that survives is the Borders.com domain, which Barnes & Noble bought. That's like Toys R Us buying KB Toys — ironic. It's also a sign that the rest of the company's intellectual property wasn't worth saving. Even Hostess had a better fate.
All I have to add to that is that Jake Williams included more of the human story than Company Man Mike and followed up on the fate of the original store number one, although I didn't consider that my store. That was the old Jacobson's location around the corner, the second store number one. When I last visited Ann Arbor for the March for Science during 2017, I saw that it had been partitioned into a bunch of smaller stores. That might have been an even sadder end than the one Jake had.
Follow over the jump for a retrospective of the top posts about the Retail Apocalypse during the 13th year of Crazy Eddie's Motie News.
Started in the early 1970's, the Ruby Tuesday restaurant chain quickly grew to become an international goliath. They had restaurants spanning several countries, employed tens of thousands of people and at its peak, grew to over 900 locations. But ever since their peak in 2007, the chain has seen a quick downfall until their bankruptcy in 2021. So join me today as I look into the rise and fall of this iconic restaurant chain known for their salad bar, Ruby Tuesday.
I don't recall Sam of BrickImmortar ever going into this much detail in his now private video. Since that video is now private, it's a good thing Jake Williams created this one. I think it's an improvement. Now all the company needs is Company Man's attention. If that happens, watch for more bar graphs!
Stay tuned for comedy tomorrow, when I expect "Stephen Colbert, Seth Meyers, and especially Jimmy Kimmel will run a victory lap as they dunk on his departure while mourning the loss of a great subject for comedy."
Starting from the novel idea of adding animatronics and arcade machines to a pizza restaurant, Chuck E Cheese's grew into an enormous, world wide chain. Though, not without issues as the company has suffered two bankruptcies, fierce competition from copycat chain, Showbiz Pizza, and an overall decline in popularity. Join me today as I explore the fascinating and turbulent history of the restaurant chain and find out if this twice bankrupt company has any chance for a future.
For nearly 50 years, Bed Bath and Beyond was at the top of their game, known across the industry as a "category killer", able to stand up to the largest companies in America like Walmart and Target just by their niche in the market. Millions of deal-hungry shoppers, wedding registries and college young adults shopped here and helped skyrocket the company into massive success with over 1,500 stores. But just as quickly as their rise, the retailer then fell on hard times. In under a decade, the company went from record sales, to bankruptcy and a total collapse of the brand. Join me today as I explore why this happened and document the final moments for a beloved retailer.
Company Man Mike compiled this list to explain what happened.
When I told my wife that I was writing a blog post about Bed Bath & Beyond, she immediately brought up how their weak online presence hurt them in competition with Amazon based on her personal shopping experience.
Jake went beyond Company Man Mike by pointing out how awful Bed Bad & Beyond's website was. His take on competition was different. Bed Bath & Beyond outlasted its most direct competition, Linens and Things, but wasn't able to survive competing with Amazon and discount brick-and-mortar chains like Walmart and Target, which I mentioned in February.
We haven't been in one of their stores since COVID-19 hit, but we've bought plenty through Amazon. On the other hand, I've gone into the nearest Target if only to pick up online orders, which I did when I had an eventful three days and two nights because of a severe storm knocking out my power, and my wife and I have had a lot of Target orders delivered to our house. Target is beating Bed Bath & Beyond both online and in the store...
Returning to Company Man Mike's list, he noted that the problem with the turnaround plan wasn't the plan itself, but management's rushing it in its impatience to get it to work. I think that's a common problem with American businesses, particularly publicly traded ones that are driven by quarterly bottom lines. Speaking of public trading, this is the second time I've seen stock buybacks being a driver of debt since GNC's bankruptcy. I wrote then "I might see stock buybacks as a cause of cash flow problems more often as the pandemic-caused recession continues." That recession ended almost as soon as it began and we may be closer to another recession later this year, but that prediction still came true.
Jake noted how stupid a move that ended up being, as all that stock is now worthless.
I close by recycling the end of the last post on Bed Bath & Beyond.
That's the latest on the Retail Apocalypse. I expect I'll be returning to this topic between now and the end of June. If nothing else, Erik of Retail Archaeology will be covering the shutdown of stores in Arizona and posting videos, which I will share here. Stay tuned.
With over 1,500 stores across the country and over 200,000 employees, the J.C. Penney Company was a mega retailer in the United States. It grew from humble beginnings with its founder James Penney and grew into an iconic retail institution in America. However those golden years only lasted until the early 2000's, when the retailer experienced a violent downturn until its eventual bankruptcy in 2020. Join me as I find out how this company went from billions to nothing.
*I have the outline of the first awards show entry already written and I plan on posting it Monday. In the meantime, stay tuned for a recap of tonight's "Saturday Night Live" episode.
