Company Man, Bright Sun Films, and Business Insider ask 'The Decline of Spirit Airlines...What Happened??'

Sunday, I wrote, "I now have Spirit Airlines going bankrupt, again, and shutting down operations on my to-do list." Fortunately, it only took Company Man a week to produce and upload The Decline of Spirit Airlines...What Happened??

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!

Both Company Man Mike and Jake Williams looked back. Business Insider looked ahead in The Rise And Fall Of Spirit Airlines.

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 attacking Iran, 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's Day.

Business Insider explains 'Why The US Loses $800M A Year In Unrecycled Aluminum Cans' for America Recycles Day

Happy America Recycles Day! In my quest to convince America to recycle smarter as well as recycle more, I'm taking a break from the difficulties of recycling plastic and plastic pollution and 'How to Save the World from Plastic' to feature Business Insider explaining Why The US Loses $800M A Year In Unrecycled Aluminum Cans.

Aluminum is infinitely recyclable, but Americans throw out millions of tons of it every year — mainly aluminum cans and other post-consumer scrap. At the same time, US can-recycling rates are falling drastically behind several countries. We went to New York City to meet a career can recycler and to Michigan to visit companies revolutionizing post-consumer aluminum recycling.

The recycling lab I run focuses on recycling aluminum, but I've never posted about it here before. My predecessor wrote it up, which is why I haven't posted the worksheet for it here; I only post the worksheets I wrote. This is also why I've decided not to post the worksheet for Selva Verde: The Green Jungle; I didn't write that one, either.

Just the same, I can use this video, or at least the facts from it, in that lab. What's disturbing is that the U.S. recycling rate has declined since my predecessor wrote it 22 or so years ago. Then, it was 50%. It's now 45%. That means that one of the facts in the worksheet description, that the U.S. throws away enough aluminum to build its entire commercial airplane fleet ever three months, is almost certainly still true, too.

Learning that New York has had a five cent deposit on many aluminum cans since 1983 makes the episode that inspired Life imitates 'Seinfeld' in Michigan recycling scam even more ridiculous. I doubt the five cent per can and bottle difference between New York and Michigan would be enough to recoup the transportation costs, even 30 years ago. Still, seeing that Michigan has an 89% can and bottle return rate is encouraging. I didn't know either of those facts before watching this video, which means I learned two things new today. As I'm fond of writing, it's always a good day when I learn something new, which makes today a good day.

That completes the string of three holidays that began with World Kindness Day and National Gratitude Month and continued with SciShow asks 'Could a Vaccine Prevent Type 1 Diabetes?' for World Diabetes Day. Since this blog passed its page view goal for the month today, stay tuned for evergreen and holiday posts through the rest of November.

'The Mehdi Hasan Show' examines the politics of ‘Andor’ for Revenge of the Sixth

For this year's celebration of Revenge of the Sixth, the dark side of Star Wars Day, I'm viewing it through a political lens, as I did in 2020 and 2021. Watch Mehdi Hasan and his guests examine The Politics of ‘Andor’ | The Mehdi Hasan Show.

In honor of Star Wars Day, this special episode analyzes the politics of the Disney+ series ‘Andor’ and just how much this tale about the origins of the Rebellion against the Empire has to tell us about the current global fight against tyranny and oppression.

My wife and I couldn't get past the second episode of "Andor." It was too slow a burn for us and not escapist enough. On the other hand, the critics and entertainment professionals love it. Its IMDB page lists 2 wins and 22 nominations, including Best Science Fiction/Fantasy Series, Limited Series or Made-for-TV Movie at the Critics Choice Super Awards.


Congratulations!

Watching Hasan, Tracy Brown, and Wajahat Ali dissect "Andor" and relate it to real-life struggles against occupation and oppression make me interested in resuming the series. I've heard that the show gets more interesting after the second episode and looking at it as a serious political allegory would probably increase my appreciation for it. Besides, I'm a Saturn Awards voter and want to be able to vote intelligently in this year's awards.

Now I'm curious about how "Andor" will help the Star Wars franchise in 'Star Trek' vs. 'Star Wars' in streaming science fiction at the Saturn Awards. I voted for "The Mandalorian" last year, but "Star Trek: Brave New Worlds" won. Let's see how well "Andor" does at this year's awards should it be nominated. That's not a sure thing. The Saturn Awards goes for entertainment over art and likes to stick it to the experts, so "Andor" might not even earn a nomination. I hope it earns at least two, one for the show and another for Diego Luna.

Follow over the jump for food, drinks, and music for the day.

CNBC explains 'How Car Safety Became A Major Selling Point'

I ended U.N. estimates that the human population passed 8 billion by telling my readers "I have another milestone to observe as Snow Bear passed 10,000 miles yesterday, so stay tuned for a driving update." I begin with CNBC explaining How Car Safety Became A Major Selling Point.

Car safety was once an afterthought, but now automakers brag about their safety ratings from groups like IIHS or NHTSA’s New Car Assessment Program. The journey to this has been long, and in some cases, controversial. Fierce battles have been fought over whether automakers should have to stock cars with safety equipment, such as airbags, and whether people should be forced to wear seatbelts.

Now a raft of new safety technologies help prevent collisions from happening at all. Some automakers, such as General Motors are aspiring to a world with no crashes.

While some of these new safety technologies are promising, they often rely on automation to achieve their goals, and automation brings its own risks, such as distraction, confusion, or a false sense of security.

In the meantime, the number of traffic deaths in America has risen in recent years, after hitting an all-time low in 2014. Experts are trying to figure out why, and what to do to reverse the trend.

I'm sharing this as a response of sorts to U.S. traffic deaths reached nearly 43,000 in 2021, the most in 16 years, a driving update. The increase in traffic deaths isn't the cars' fault; as I tell my students, cars are much safer now than they were in the 1960s early 1970s, when more than 50,000 Americans died each year in collisions and the like, as the following graph from Business Insider shows.


I expect all the safety and other driver assistance technologies described in the videos will make cars even safer in the future, although I don't expect they will eliminate all traffic fatalies in 30 years, although I called it a worthy if unattainable goal six years ago.

Instead, the drivers are causing the increased deaths, first through distracted driving, then speeding during the pandemic, which has persisted.* That's individual bad behavior having a collective effect. On the other hand, I'm not going to fault individuals for driving more, which also increases aggregate traffic deaths, even if the death rate per miles driven stays constant or even decreases, as it did last year and so far this year.

That's the big picture. Follow over the jump for my personal driving update.

Business Insider looks at the rise and fall of Occupy Wall Street 10 years later

I'm taking a break from entertainment to look back at a major subject during the first year of this blog, Occupy Wall Street. Watch Business Insider's retrospective, Why Occupy Wall Street Failed 10 Years Ago | Rise And Fall.

Ten years ago, it seemed like Occupy Wall Street would change America. The movement that started in New York City's Financial District spread across the nation in weeks. But it died out as quickly as it started. What happened to Occupy Wall Street and did it even make a difference?

I pretty much agree with former Labor Secretary Robert Reich, that the movement was good at attracting attention and directing it to the economic, social, and political problems, but didn't have a strategic goal or activists who would work to achieve it. However, it wasn't a waste of effort.

As I wrote on the first anniversary of my blogging about the protests, "One year later, the participants may no longer be camping out in Zuccotti Park, but they did turn economic inequality into a major subject of conversation..." Reich and others pointed out that it made the candidacies of Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren possible and served as a model for the Black Lives Matter and Climate Strike protests, all of which I supported. So, Occupy Wall Street failed in the short term, but set up other long-term movements that have goals and strategies to achieve them. It also showed what not to do. That's just as important a lesson as its successes.

Business Insider examines the rise, fall, and return of Twinkies

Writing Business Insider explains 'why the world's most popular banana may go extinct', "remind[ed] me that I promised to share a Business Insider video about the rise, fall, and return of Twinkies three months ago but haven't done so yet...Saturday looks open..." That's today, so watch The Rise And Fall Of Twinkies.

Hostess Twinkies rose to icon status in the mid-1900s, becoming a mainstay in lunchboxes across America. But a heavy debt load and two bankruptcies almost killed Twinkies. In 2012, Twinkies left shelves for good... Until two guys, Andy and Dean, came up with a plan to save the iconic brand.

As I first wrote nine years ago, "Twinkies and the other Hostess products are still valuable and someone will make them" and this video tells how and why. It also dispels urban legends about the Twinkie, particularly the one about it lasting indefinitely. It didn't; the reformulated one lasts longer.

Business Insider's video also lists Purina as a former owner of Hostess's parent company from 1984 to 1995. That means I have a distant connection to Hostess, as my first job for a large employer was as cook and cashier for Jack In The Box from 1977 to 1979, which Purina owned from 1968 to 1985. My fellow employees and I joked that we worked for Purina People Chow. Our manager told us to never say that in front of the customers. We didn't.

That I'm revisiting the subject shows that I've made my peace with Americans' screwed-up priorities and no longer think this is as silly a story as I did when I first wrote about it. Americans crave their comfort food as much as they need their entertainment, which I take more seriously now than when I started writing this blog ten years ago. I just wish both were healthier and distracted less from issues like sustainability.  May Americans be as passionate about sustainability and democracy as they are about Twinkies.


That's it for this Retail-Apocalypse-adjacent story of manufacturing returning from bankruptcy. Stay tuned for a celebration of July 4th.

Business Insider explains 'why the world's most popular banana may go extinct'

It's been eight years since I first wrote "the dessert bananas people eat are threatened by fungus because of the unintended effects of growing monocultures of clones," so when I saw Why The World’s Most Popular Banana May Go Extinct | Big Business, I was saddened and alarmed, but not particularly surprised. Watch to see how the banana crisis has progressed since I last blogged about it in 2014, before Tropical Race 4 of Panama Disease had reached South America in 2019.

Bananas are facing a pandemic, too. Almost all of the bananas exported globally are just one variety called the Cavendish. And the Cavendish is vulnerable to a fungus called Panama Disease, which is ravaging banana farms across the globe. If it's not stopped, the Cavendish may go extinct. We visited a farm in Colombia infected with Panama Disease and a lab in the Netherlands studying the fungus to see if biosecurity and breeding can save the $25 billion banana industry.

I make the point that growing monocultures of clones is a bad idea every semester and this video shows why. Worse yet, the video and I both describe that it happened before and all growers did was replace the variety grown, which illustrates another point I make, that people don't learn and repeat their mistakes. At least this time, growers in Columbia are implementing measures that will slow the spread of the disease, which might give them more time to find a solution other than the genetically modified Cavendish that I think works well from a scientific and technological perspective, but is unpalatable socially and politically. Sigh. People have to accept the solution for it to really work.

Watching this reminds me that I promised to share a Business Insider video about the rise, fall, and return of Twinkies three months ago but haven't done so yet. I'll get to that after observing Asteroid Day tomorrow, Canada Day Thursday, and World UFO Day on Friday. Saturday looks open before I celebrate July 4th on Sunday. Stay tuned.

The costs of loss and prevention from the Texas polar vortex blackout from Vox and Business Insider

I emphasized the science in The connections among climate change, the wobbling jet stream, and the polar vortex explained by PBS Terra and CBS News over the technological, economic, and human costs of the record-setting cold and snow last month. It's time to reverse the emphasis, starting with Texas's power disaster is a warning sign for the US, which Vox uploaded the day before yesterday.

America's power grid is not ready.
...
In February, extreme cold and an unusual winter storm left millions of Texans in the dark. Many went without power or water, in subzero temperatures, for nearly five days. It was a disaster; dozens died. But even though that storm hit much of the country, the power outages were mostly limited to Texas. That’s because Texas is on its own electrical grid, separate from the rest of the country, which means it can’t easily get power from other states in an emergency.

But Texas's grid itself is not what failed. Power went out across Texas in the first place because energy sources across the state were unprepared for severe weather. And that didn’t have to happen; Texas had been warned about this exact scenario, and had actually experienced versions of it twice in the last 30 years. But they didn’t prepare.

Now the rest of the US faces the same issue. Climate change is making severe weather disasters more and more frequent. And the American energy system is not ready for it.

Vox examined both well even as they reversed the emphasis by featuring how government and industry managed the technology of the electrical grid over the weather event and climate change that exposed its flaws. The report also pointed out that Texas serves as a warning to the rest of the country.

Business Insider looked more at the human and economic cost when it explained Why The Texas Polar Vortex Is So Expensive.

The Texas winter storm is expected to be the most expensive weather event in the state’s history, costing insurers over $20 billion. Why are Texans paying the price for the polar vortex?

This looks like a case where an ounce of prevention would have saved a pound of cure. I'm also wondering if it counts as an externality, "a cost or benefit that is imposed on a third party who did not agree to incur that cost or benefit" and "any difference between the private cost of an action or decision to an economic agent and the social cost." It probably is, although I am neither an economist nor a lawyer, both of whom should be consulted to see if the $20 billion dollar price tag qualifies and to whom.

When I write about blackouts, I usually reference the 2003 blackout in the northeastern U.S. and adjacent parts of Canada. In large part, that's because I ask my students about it in the worksheet for "The End of Suburbia." Now that I've relegated that movie and its associated worksheets to extra credit, I may have to look for newer resources about more recent events, like the blackout and associated death and damage from the Texas blackout. In the meantime, stay tuned for the Sunday entertainment feature.

Bright Sun Films and Business Insider on the General Motors bankruptcy, a story I tell my students

I wrote about one of the examples I use to illustrate a point to my students yesterday in I recommended 'Spaceship Earth,' a documentary about Biosphere 2, to my students. Today, I'm writing about another, General Motors. Watch Bankrupt - General Motors, which includes the points I make about what was once the largest company and the largest private employer in the U.S. as well as the largest auto company on the planet.

After over a hundred years in business, General Motors was the worlds largest corporation producing some of the most iconic cars in history. However in the early 2000's, the company made some bad decisions and quickly brought the worlds most powerful company into turmoil, on the brink of shutting down, and eventually.. bankruptcy.

As my readers might gather, I use pre-bankruptcy GM as an example of how not to conduct business sustainably. First, I tell students about how I figured out that GM was headed for bankruptcy in 2006 based on its pension obligations and the business model it used to sustain them, selling trucks, SUVs, and luxury cars, which were profitable but very fuel-inefficient. The price of oil was already rising then and when it got high enough, it would make sales of those product lines collapse, tanking GM's revenue and sending it into bankruptcy. As the video shows, that happened, although Jake Williams concentrated on the effects of the Great Recession more than the energy costs that, along with the collapse of housing and finance, helped cause it. Jake at least pointed out that abandoning the EV-1 turned out to be a mistake, with GM losing its lead in a technology that other auto makers made profitable.

Second, even during good times, GM was not caring about how its business decisions affected its employees and the communities in which they lived. That's ignoring the people part of the triple bottom line, people, planet, profit, and creating inequitable outcomes, the opposite of what the image below shows as the result of balancing people and profit. That led to all the problems the city of Flint had even before the Flint Water Crisis.

As the diagram also shows, the anticipated results of balancing planet and profit are viable outcomes. GM did not do that with its product line, concentrating on profit to serve its retirees, sacrificing planet for people. That led to a nonviable outcome, the company going bankrupt.

Jake did not include the environmental and energy cost of my lectures in his history, but Business Insider did in its history of one of the brands that supported GM before the bankruptcy but which the company discontinued afterwards, The Rise And Fall Of Hummer.

In the 1990s, the militaristic off-road machine known as the Hummer was a major part of American pop culture. But in fewer than 20 years, Hummer went from being one of General Motors' most recognizable brands to a relic of the past. We explored what led to its rise and fall.

The Hummer was a poster child of gas guzzling SUVs and was the one I would call a "suburban assault vehicle" because of its military origins. However, as Business Insider suggested, it could stage a comeback, particularly if GM revives it as an electric vehicle.

Finally, one of the reasons why I was able to predict the crash in GM's sales more than a decade ago was because I'd seen it before during the 1970s and 1980s, when gas prices rose and American auto sales, particularly of larger vehicles, collapsed. Business Insider told that story as part of The Rise And Fall Of Cadillac.

For half a century, Cadillac was America's top-selling luxury car brand. However, recent decades have seen it struggle to stay afloat in the US.

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

That's it for today's edition of stories I tell my students. Stay tuned for the series nominees for the 26th annual Critics Choice Awards in tomorrow's Sunday entertainment feature as I promised in the footnote to 'Watchmen' leads diversity in 2019-2020 Emmy winners for MLK Day.

Business Insider and CNBC explain the rise and fall of Chuck E. Cheese, a tale of the Retail Apocalypse and pandemic

"Looks like I have more stories to write about restaurants in distress during the pandemic. Stay tuned." That's what I told my readers as my conclusion to Ruby Tuesday and Sizzler file for bankruptcy, tales of the Retail Apocalypse and pandemic. Before I tell any new stories, I'm returning to an old one, Chuck E. Cheese. Business Insider told a condensed version of the story in The Rise And Fall Of Chuck E. Cheese.

With a combination of arcade games, pizza, and animatronics, Chuck E. Cheese became the go-to spot for kids' birthday parties in the '90s. But a $1 billion debt load and shuttered dine-in service due to the COVID-19 pandemic forced Chuck E. Cheese to file for bankruptcy in June. So what happened?

That's very much the same story that Company Man told, just with a bigger budget and more professional production values.* Both versions make clear a point I made in CNN Business explains retail bankruptcies and how private equity is gutting retail, tales of the Retail Apocalypse.

As I wrote in Company Man describes the decline of GNC, a tale of the Retail Apocalypse and pandemic, "Usually it's private equity leveraging a company and making it vulnerable to bankruptcy during downturns, which happened to KB Toys, Sears and KMart, Toys R Us, Art Van, J. Crew, and Chuck E. Cheese's." As the video pointed out, I should now add Neiman Marcus to the list. So, don't just blame Amazon and the COVID-19 pandemic for retail bankruptcies and closures; vulture capitalism plays a major part in the story as well.

As the video made clear, Chuck E. Cheese was already in trouble before the COVID-19 pandemic hit; the pandemic response was just the final straw.

Two days after Business Insider released their video, CNBC uploaded one of their own, which asked Can Chuck E. Cheese Survive Bankruptcy?

Chuck E. Cheese reigned as a favorite for kids birthday parties for over 40 years. But in June 2020, it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and is reopening restaurants after nationwide closures in an attempt to entice families back. While indirect rivals such as Domino's and Papa John's have managed to recover some of their business, Chuck E. Cheese's struggles may be more than it can handle, as it tries to regain its footing in an industry ravaged by the pandemic.

While CNBC retold the history of Chuck E. Cheese, it also connected the chain's situation to those of its competitors and to the restaurant business as a whole, placing its bankruptcy in context. In particular, the relative success of Domino's and Papa John's, both of whom focused on take-out and delivery of high-quality, competitively priced pizza, pointed out the kind of restaurant operation that is succeeding in the current retail environment. Also, I did not know that Chipotle had invested so heavily in mobile ordering technology, which appears to have kept their overall revenues from dropping more than 10%. Meanwhile, Dave & Busters really looks like an adult version of Chuck E. Cheese and could suffer many of the same issues. At least it's publicly traded, so private equity won't have the same pernicious effect that it's had on so many other retail and restaurant chains I've written about here.

If CNBC answered its question about Chuck E. Cheese surviving bankruptcy, I don't remember it. However, Business Insider thought the company would. Stores reopening with safety measures in place support that conclusion. KOAA 5 in Colorado Springs showed some of them in Chuck E. Cheese locations reopen with safety measures in Colorado Springs.

Finding a way to safely and responsibly reopen is a challenge businesses still face during this global pandemic. News5 found out longtime family entertainment hub Chuck E. Cheese is trying to rebound in Colorado Springs.

That's encouraging. I wish Chuck E. Cheese luck; they'll need it.

I have more Retail Apocalypse stories to tell, but only after Sweetest Day and the Sunday entertainment feature. Stay tuned.

*That's not a knock on Company Man Mike; he does a great job for a one-man operation. It's just that it's hard to compete with the resources of a professional news organization.

Ruby Tuesday and Sizzler file for bankruptcy, tales of the Retail Apocalypse and pandemic

It's time for another installment of Tales of the Retail Apocalypse. First, I learned that Sizzler filed for bankruptcy when compiling the videos for 'SNL' satirizes the vice-presidential debate and puts the news in the context of Mental Health Awareness Week. My reaction was "Sizzler filed for bankruptcy? I'll have to write about that for my next Retail Apocalypse entry." Second, when searching for videos about Sizzler's bankruptcy, I found out that Ruby Tuesday filed for bankruptcy last week. I'll begin with the latter story, as Ruby Tuesday is the larger company and its filing is more recent.

WATE 6 On Your Side in Knoxville, Tennessee, covered the story more thoroughly than the other television stations, uploading three videos more than a minute long, while everyone else averaged 30 seconds. That's because Ruby Tuesday started in Knoxville. Here is the longest clip from the station's YouTube channel: Ruby Tuesday files for bankruptcy.


Another clip, Ruby Tuesday files for voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy, had the only video description beyond the title.

Ruby Tuesday announced today that it has filed a voluntary petition for reorganization under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code.

I could feel how important Ruby Tuesday was to the people in Knoxville, especially those who dined at the original location. I feel sorry for them and hope that the original location stays open after bankruptcy.

None of WATE's reports specified if any locations would close, but Fox 2 in St. Louis did in Ruby Tuesday files for bankruptcy, saying 185 stores would shut their doors permanently.

Ruby Tuesday is filing for bankruptcy protection, the latest casual restaurant chain to suffer from coronavirus-related closures and changing consumer habits.

For what it's worth, the location nearest me, four miles away by car and less as the crow flies, closed last year and has been rezoned for a fast food restaurant and a gas station. Good bye, Ruby Tuesday!

Follow over the jump for a news report of Sizzler's closing and the reaction to it.

Ascena Retail Group, parent of Ann Taylor, Lane Bryant, and other chains, filed for bankruptcy, a tale of the Retail Apocalypse and pandemic

I concluded Executives at JCPenney and Hertz scored bonuses before declaring bankruptcy, tales of the Retail Apocalypse and pandemic with a teaser for today's post.

Stay tuned as I plan on making good on the other promise I made at the conclusion of yesterday's post.

Before I go, ABC News also reported that Ascena Retail Group, parent company of Ann Taylor, LOFT, Lane Bryant, Lou & Grey, Catherines, Cacique, Justice, and Dressbarn filed for bankruptcy recently. I'll have to report on that as well.

This story barely made a splash in news reports on YouTube, as the best one I found was from CBS Philly, Ann Taylor Owner Files For Chapter 11 Bankruptcy.

The operator of Ann Taylor and Lane Bryant filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Thursday, the latest retailer to do so during the pandemic. Mahwah, New Jersey-based Ascena Retail Group Inc., which operates nearly 3,000 stores mostly at malls, had been dragged down by debt and weak sales for years. Katie Johnston reports.

I found the local television coverage disappointing, especially since I've had my eye on Ascena Retail Group since I wrote Business Insider on stores closing in the Retail Apocalypse more than two years ago, when I wrote "The third company closing lots of stores is Ascena Retail Group. I didn't know who they were, but I did know some of the chains they own, including Ann Taylor, Dress Barn, Lane Bryant, and Loft." I was hoping for something more after two years, but the news media let me down. Considering that the bankruptcies of Brooks Brothers and Tailored Brands, parent of Men's Wearhouse and Jos. A. Bank got more coverage, I wonder if there isn't some subtle sexism to blame for this, as Ascena Group sells women's wear, while the other two chains sold men's business apparel. It's that, or it doesn't fit the news angle in my quip "I guess no one needs a business suit when they work from home and conduct business over Zoom." Even that doesn't hold water, as Ann Taylor sells clothes for professionals. I have two reactions — oink and sigh.

On the other hand, print media took the bankruptcy more seriously, as the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Business Insider, and Yahoo! Finance all ran stories on it. Follow over the jump for coverage from Business Insider, and Yahoo! Finance, since the first two sources are behind partial paywalls.

The rise and fall of the mall from Business Insider, a tale of the Retail Apocalypse and pandemic

I've been concentrating on failures of individual chains in the tales of the Retail Apocalypse I've covered this blogging year.* I think it's time to revisit the theme of Vox on America's dying malls as failed third spaces, which was the entry that got me started on covering the Retail Apocalypse as an overarching phenomenon instead of the just the failure of my local mall. For that, I present a video follow-up of sorts to Business Insider on dead malls in the Retail Apocalypse with assistance from Dan Bell and Radiohead, Business Insider's The Rise And Fall Of The Mall.

Starting with the opening of the Southland Mall in 1956 malls have been a vaulted piece of Americana for decades. Thousands were built across the country and for a while it seemed they would dominate the American landscape forever, but in recent years they’ve rapidly lost their value. So how did malls go from being a mainstay in American society to a quickly vanishing memory?

Before I comment on the video, I wish to correct the video description. It's the Southdale Center, not the Southland Mall, that's the first enclosed American mall. At least the video gets it right  Also, I think the adjective should be vaunted, not vaulted, although a lot of malls are that, too.

Speaking of the video, I think this is a more focused summary of the history of malls and their issues seen in Wired on dead malls, a tale of the Retail Apocalypse.** Also, I am not surprised that the American Dream Mall I featured in The future of malls for Cyber Monday, a tale of the Retail Apocalypse is having problems. I am surprised that The Mall of America has been unable to pay its mortgage, although maybe I shouldn't be. Chalk it up to the COVID-19 pandemic. That means I probably should cover that story in more detail in a future entry. Stay tuned.

*Which is also the Persian year, a fortunate coincidence that explains why I celebrate Nowruz (Persian New Year) and my blog's birthday concurrently.

**It's also a more focused and lively presentation than the video series Sam of Brick Immortar has created on the history of malls. Now that I've mentioned them, I should use those videos in a future entry as well.

Business Insider on the rise and fall of the USPS

I've shared two comedic takes on the USPS, Samantha Bee explains why we need to save the Postal Service at the end of April and John Oliver describes the plight of the United States Postal Service in the middle of May. It's about time for a serious report on the subject. Fortunately, I found Business Insider's The Rise And Fall of USPS during my writing of The rise and fall of J. Crew and JCPenney closing 154 stores, tales of the Retail Apocalypse earlier today. Please watch.

The United States Postal Service has been around for more than 200 years and is actually older than the United States. However, the organization that always makes it through rain, sleet, and hail may not make it through 2020. A law passed at the end of 2006, combined with the impact of the coronavirus pandemic, has led to most of the post office's current woes. Here's why the post office is $160 billion in debt.

Of course, the video mentions both the importance of the USPS in voting by mail during the COVID-19 pandemic as well as Trump's opposition to both voting by mail and bailing out the USPS. Both of those bear repeating, along with the message to save the USPS.

The rise and fall of J. Crew and JCPenney closing 154 stores, tales of the Retail Apocalypse

When I wrote "I expect I'll write more about the Retail Apocalypse in June" a week ago in Bed Bath & Beyond, a tale of the Retail Apocalypse from Retail Archaeology and Company Man, I didn't think my prediction would come true so soon. Today, I have not one, but two stories on the subject to share, beginning with an update on Neiman Marcus and J. Crew declare bankruptcy, tales of the Retail Apocalypse. Watch Business Insider's The Rise And Fall Of J.Crew, which came out only a couple of hours ago.

At the height of its success, J.Crew and its sister company Madewell were operating in over 100 countries and had over 500 stores. Seen on celebrities, politicians, and working professionals around the world, J.Crew was considered at the top of the retail food chain. In the midst of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, the company filed for bankruptcy. However, the brand faced a lot of challenges before the pandemic ever came to be. This is the rise and fall of J.Crew.

In addition to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, I see two other lessons from this. First, sometimes thriving during one crisis makes surviving the next one more difficult. That's an angle I might take on Ford's current situation vs. GM's, but haven't gotten around to yet. I'll put that on my to-do list along with "hero pay" for essential retail workers. Second, private equity firms can have pernicious effects on the companies they purchase, a subject I began covering eight years ago with KB Toys and resumed with Sears and KMart, Toys R Us, and Art Van. I can now add J. Crew to the list.

The other tale of the Retail Apocalypse is an update to JCPenney files for bankruptcy while Kroger ends 'hero pay,' tales of the Retail Apocalypse and COVID-19 pandemic. JCPenney was not among the chains Business Insider and WXYZ listed in Many stores closing for good even as economy reopens, a tale of the Retail Apocalypse and COVID-19 pandemic. That shoe dropped earlier this week. Watch JC Penney closing 154 stores in first post-bankruptcy phase from WWLP-22News.

J.C. Penney said Thursday that it will start closing 154 of its stores next week in what it is calling the first phase of its efforts to shrink its footprint.

This video has a better description, but WXYZ's JC Penney closing 154 stores has a livelier delivery and is more popular. Besides, I can't resist a local angle.


I mentioned the Alpena JCPenney location in Payless Shoes, a tale of the Retail Apocalypse two years ago. I wished the mall manager luck in finding a replacement for Payless then. Now I wish him even more luck in replacing one of the mall's anchors. He'll need it.

Many stores closing for good even as economy reopens, a tale of the Retail Apocalypse and COVID-19 pandemic

In the previous installment of tales of the Retail Apocalypse, which has now been rolled up into the COVID-19 pandemic, I told how JCPenney filed for bankruptcy.* It's not just JCPenney's, along with Neiman Marcus and J. Crew declaring bankruptcy and closing stores as a result of the pandemic. WXYZ uploaded Store closings amid coronavirus pandemic this morning listing many more.


WXYZ got its list from Business Insider's More than 3,300 stores are closing in 2020 as the retail apocalypse drags on. Here's the full list.

Retailers are expected to close more than 3,300 stores this year, following record-high rates of closings last year.

More than 9,300 store closings were announced in the US in 2019, smashing the previous record of roughly 8,000 store closures in 2017, according to an analysis by Business Insider.

The number of store closings this year could be even higher than previous records, according to estimates from the real estate firm Cushman & Wakefield. The firm estimated last year —prior to the coronavirus pandemic — that as many as 12,000 major chain stores could close in 2020.

The pandemic is now putting even more stores in danger of closing, as retailers grapple with dramatic drops in sales in traffic.

Just to review, here are the chains closing more than 100 stores, along with my comments.

• Pier 1 Imports: 450 stores — I reported this in Pier 1 Imports files for bankruptcy, a tale of the Retail Apocalypse.
• GameStop: 320 stores — This chain has been on my radar since Business Insider on stores closing in the Retail Apocalypse with updates in Company Man on GameStop, a tale of the Retail Apocalypse and GameStop losing money and closing stores, a tale of the Retail Apocalypse.
• Papyrus: 254 stores — "The stationary chain Papyrus filed for bankruptcy in January and said it plans to close its 254 stores in the US and Canada." I missed this news and now the chain will be gone forever.
• Victoria's Secret: 238 stores — oh, my.
• Gap: 230 stores — looks like they fell into the generation gap of shopping.
• Walgreens: 200 stores — I'm not worried about Walgreens going away, although they may suffer from Starbucks's problem, too many stores too close together.
• Chico's: 200 stores — never heard of them.
• Destination Maternity: 183 stores — I reported this alread in Destination Maternity/Motherhood Maternity files for bankruptcy and announces store closings, blaming lower birth rates, a tale of the Retail Apocalypse.
• Forever 21: 178 stores — I have been following this story since September, when I posted Forever 21 is facing bankruptcy, a tale of the Retail Apocalypse then Forever 21 files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, a tale of the Retail Apocalypse, followed by an update in CNBC and Business Insider explain the rise and fall of Forever 21, a tale of the Retail Apocalypse.
• Modell's: 153 stores — "The sports retailer Modell's filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in March and said it plans to close all of its 153 stores." I missed this news, too, and now the chain will be gone.
• A.C. Moore: 145 stores — "The craft-store chain A.C. Moore is shutting down all 145 of its stores in 2020. A.C. Moore's parent company, Nicole Crafts, announced the closings in November and said about 40 locations would be converted into Michaels stores." At least I know Michaels.
• Macy's: 125 stores — I reported this in Macy's announces 125 stores closing and 2,000 corporate jobs cut, a tale of the Retail Apocalypse.
• Art Van Furniture: 125 stores — reported in Art Van Furniture going out of business, a tale of the Retail Apocalypse.
• Bose: 119 stores — "The audio equipment retailer Bose said in January that it planned to close 119 stores globally, including all its stores in the US."

In addition, Sears is closing 51 stores and Kmart 45 stores. I have a long series about Sears and KMart with the latest featuring Sears being Lampert and Mnuchin sued by Sears, a tale of the Retail Apocalypse and the latest about KMart Last two Kmarts in metro Detroit will close, a tale of the Retail Apocalypse. Finally, Bed, Bath & Beyond is closing 44 stores, more than the 40 stores I reported in CNBC warns that Bed Bath & Beyond is 'facing extinction,' a tale of the Retail Apocalypse.

All of this is happening as stores and malls are reopening in Michigan, which WXYZ also reported in Two local malls set to reopen May 28.


I'm not going back to the mall any time soon. My wife and I are doing our shopping online and having it delivered to home or picking it up in the parking lot, something millions of Americans are also doing.

That's it for the Retail Apocalypse for today. With luck, the next entry will be about the first commercial crew mission to the ISS. Cross your fingers and stay tuned!

*I also reported how Kroger and other grocery chains were ending "hero pay" and remarked that deserved a post of its own. I'll get to it.

Business Insider and The Daily Conversation rank past presidents for Presidents Day

Happy Presidents Day!Yesterday I ranked the best movie and TV presidents, real and fictional, for Presidents Day weekend.  Today, I'm ranking the real presidents.*

The most recent video I could find from a reputable source was The top 15 presidents according to historians by Business Insider.

It should come as little surprise to anyone that, for the third time in a row, historians agree that Abraham Lincoln was the best US President, but what about our newest former president?

As part of C-SPAN's third Historians Survey of Presidential Leadership, almost 100 historians and biographers rated the 43 former presidents on ten qualities of presidential leadership: Public persuasion, crisis leadership, economic management, moral authority, international relations, administrative skills, relations with congress, vision, pursued equal justice for all, and performance within the context of his times.

That may be the most recent, but the most popular video on this topic I could find is The Daily Conversation's Top 10 Presidents of the USA, which goes more in detail about each president's accomplishments.

The 10 best presidents in American history, ranked by their overall contribution to the country.

10. John F. Kennedy
9. James K. Polk
8. Lyndon B. Johnson
7. Dwight D. Eisenhower
6. Woodrow Wilson
5. Thomas Jefferson
4. Theodore Roosevelt
3. George Washington
2. Franklin D. Roosevelt
1. Abraham Lincoln

The one that surprised me in both rankings was James K. Polk, who shows up on both lists while another president I expected, Andrew Jackson, did not.  I guess I would consider Polk underrated, while Jackson, who is our current president's favorite past president, might be overrated.  As I've written before, any day I learn something new is a good day.

*Yes, I know I promised to write "an entry about the people running for president in real life" for today.  I'm working on it, so stay tuned.

Ten of the companies that went out of business this decade and 9,300+ stores closed this year, two tales of the Retail Apocalypse

"Stay tuned for the year in the Retail Apocalypse, particularly the prediction that 12,000 stores could close in 2019."  That was the program note for today's entry that I used as the conclusion to YouTube rewinds 2019 plus WatchMojo ranks all the decade's rewinds.  As I also did for The top ten science stories of 2019 and the 2010s from Science Magazine and ASAPScience and Time Magazine and Yahoo! Finance look back at 2019 and the 2010s, I'm looking back at both the year and the decade.  In this case, the 2010s come first.  Watch Business Insider's 10 Companies We Lost In The Last Decade.

From 2010 to 2019, the retail apocalypse and changing tastes killed off many iconic companies. We lost Payless ShoeSource, Borders, Wow Air, and Toys R Us this decade.

While I didn't realize it at the time, the first Retail Apocalypse story I wrote about on this blog was the demise of Borders Books.  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.

That's it for the decade in the Retail Apocalypse.  For the year, watch CBS DFW's Despite Strong Economy, 2019 Proved To Be Painful Year For Retailers.

The group Coresign Research reported more than 9,300 stores closed nationwide, which is a 59% jump from 2018.

While the U.S. didn't see 12,000 stores close, it was still a very bad year for brick-and-mortar retail.  It saw Payless ShoeSource, Gymboree, Charlotte Russe, Dressbarn, Shopko, and Charming Charlie all go out of business.  In addition, Forever 21 and Destination Maternity/Motherhood Maternity both declared bankruptcy while still operating.  Also, Macy's, JCPenney's, Ruby Tuesday,  Bed Bath & Beyond, GNC, GameStop, Dillards, and Pier 1 Imports all closed locations.  Wow!

Not all retail news last year was bad, as Sears and KMart having near-death experiences as both avoided liquidation, while RadioShack and Toys R Us showed signs of rising from the ashes after going out of business.  Still, I'm not optimistic about 2020, especially if the yield curve is correct about the next recession.  All of the above liquidations, bankruptcies, and store closures happened during an economic expansion, which is not when I expect a lot of business failures.  That's one of the reasons I find the trend alarming; it's counter-intuitive.  I expect it will become even worse when a recession hits.

That's it for the Retail Apocalypse for 2019.  Stay tuned for a New Year's Eve entry about the year in Google search, another of my traditions here.

CNBC and Business Insider explain the rise and fall of Forever 21, a tale of the Retail Apocalypse

Last week, I featured the Wall Street Journal examining The death and rebirth of Toys R Us as a tale of the Retail Apocalypse for Black Friday/Buy Nothing Day.  This week, CNBC looked at Forever 21's bankruptcy for another installment of tales of the Retail Apocalypse.  Watch CNBC ask and answer Why Did Forever 21 File For Bankruptcy?

Forever 21 has been practically synonymous with “fast fashion” and its massive stores have become a common fixture in America’s shopping malls. But the retailer is in trouble, Forever 21 filed for bankruptcy in September 2019. The brand is now closing hundreds of stores, as its clothes become more interchangeable with “cheap” rather than “trendy.”

I'm glad to see Forever 21's brick-and-mortar competitors mentioned more than its online ones.  In particular, I don't recall anyone mentioning Amazon, which I find to be a relief.  I also appreciated CNBC pointing out how the chain's own errors contributed to their misfortune; that's the case with most of the casualties of the Retail Apocalypse.  I also liked that the final expert interviewed pointed out that this will not be the end of Forever 21; it will survive in the U.S. and Latin America while staying out of the way of H&M in Europe and Uniqlo in Asia, although it will continue to compete with both in its home markets.

Some of that is also true of Business Insider, which told much the same story up to the bankruptcy filing in The Rise And Fall Of Forever 21, a video I should have used at the end of September.

At its peak, Forever 21 made $4.4 billion in revenue and was one of the fastest-growing fast fashion empires. Now, the retailer is preparing to file for bankruptcy after alienating its core customers and struggling to keep up with the rise of e-commerce. As one of the largest tenants of American malls, a large-scale shutdown of Forever 21's stores could exacerbate the ongoing retail apocalypse.

Business Insider's video is shorter and snappier.  It also mentioned both the retail apocalypse and Forever 21's online competitors, which CNBC ignored.  I think viewers should watch both videos to get a fuller account of the the chain's early success and later failure.  It's important to learn from both.

Destination Maternity/Motherhood Maternity files for bankruptcy and announces store closings, blaming lower birth rates, a tale of the Retail Apocalypse

While my tales of the Retail Apocalypse usually intersect with online shopping, particularly Amazon, I found one that has more in common with lower birth and fertility rates, the bankruptcy of Destination Maternity, which is also the parent company of Motherhood Maternity and A Pea in a Pod.  Watch Destination Maternity to close 183 stores in Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

Destination Maternity filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Monday [October 21] as the apparel company hopes to avoid the graveyard of fashion retailers.

Nice Hand took the text of the slideshow video from a USA Today article, Destination Maternity to close 183 stores in Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

The retailer operates stores under several brands, including Destination Maternity, Motherhood Maternity and A Pea in the Pod.

The company had 446 stores in the U.S., Canada and Puerto Rico as of Aug. 3. It also operated 491 shops-within-a-shop at various department stores and baby specialty retailers.

The company plans to close 183 stores after already shuttering 27 recently, according to a court filing. Bankruptcy allows companies to escape unprofitable leases.

...the company, in a court document, blamed the retail industry's turmoil, declining birth rates, high rents and leadership turnover for faltering. The company has had five CEOs in the last five years.

Yes, declining birth rates.  Business Insider featured that angle in Bankrupt Destination Maternity is on the brink of collapse — and declining birthrates may be to blame.

The declining national birthrate isn't just a sociological concern — it also holds perilous economic implications for several industries, including, most recently, maternity apparel.

US birthrates hit a record 32-year low in 2018 after dropping 2% from 2017, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Over the past two years, the dip has negatively impacted a variety of companies, from Toys R Us and Babies R Us to consumer-packaged-goods companies like Kimberly-Clark and Procter & Gamble that sell diapers and other products for babies.

Now it's coming for Destination Maternity, the largest global maternity company.
...
On Thursday, analysts at Demographic Intelligence — a forecasting firm specializing in national marriage and birthrates — said decreasing birthrates have played a direct role in the Destination Maternity bankruptcy.

"While competition from online retailers and other widely discussed factors may have had some role to play, Destination Maternity's declining net sales in recent years have tracked fairly closely with the sharp decline in births in the United States," Lyman Stone, an advisor at Demographic Intelligence advisor, said in a statement.

Once again, I'm being a good environmentalist and recycling.

On the one hand, the U.S. is doing its part to slow down population growth.  On the other hand, [this means] a possible shrinking economy in the future, which is bad for business as usual.  It's time to be a good environmentalist and recycle what I wrote last year.

I have been in favor of zero population growth for as long as I can remember.  However, I'm not sure the U.S. economy is set up for a stable or slowly declining population, a point I made in the Hipcrime Vocab: Why Slowing Population Growth is a Problem.  We are going to have to figure how to do so.  Otherwise, I might live long enough to experience the wisdom of the saying "Be careful what you wish for; you might get it."

Here's to hoping the U.S. learns how to thread that needle.