JCPenney and Macy's also closing stores in 2019, a tale of the Retail Apocalypse

I have more news on how JCPenney and Macy's are faring in the Retail Apocalypse today, as Wochit Business reported yesterday Macy's and JCPenney Are Closing Stores.

Retailers JCPenney and Macy's have started off the new year with store closings. Business Insider reports that the two department-store chains are looking to trim down on expensive real estate to cut costs and boost growth. These closings follow embattled retailer Sears who also announced more than 260 store closings since it filed for bankruptcy in October.These department-store chains have come under pressure as spending increasingly shifts online and foot traffic to stores slows.

Business Insider, the source of the Wochit Business video, had more details.

On Tuesday, JCPenney reported disappointing holiday sales numbers and announced that it would be closing three stores in the spring. More would follow, it said, adding that these would be announced in its upcoming quarterly earnings results in February.

JCPenney isn't alone. Macy's has quietly announced a string of store closings in the upcoming months, including one store in Massachusetts, its last remaining store in Wyoming, and another in Indianapolis.

I may be done with the Sears Holdings bankruptcy for now, but the Retail Apocalypse continues to claim victims.

Sears Holdings still 'not dead yet' as deadline extended for rescue offer

I told my readers to "Stay tuned" as "I'll have more tomorrow on Fast Eddie Lamprey's rescue effort, regardless of how it turns out" at the conclusion of Sears Holdings announces 80 more stores closing while company on verge of liquidation.  I was expecting that CNBC would have the final word in Sears plans to liquidate after after 126 years in business.

Sears Holdings has rejected Chairman Eddie Lampert’s bid to save the 126-year-old company, setting the storied retailer with more than 50,000 employees on a path to liquidation, people familiar with the situation told CNBC on Tuesday. Sears, which also owns Kmart, planned to announce its liquidation plans Tuesday morning, the people said.

That's not yet to be, as Wochit News reported soon after that Millionaire Chairman With Hopes To Save Sears Is Revising Offer.

Sears Holdings Corp agreed on Tuesday to consider a revised takeover bid from a billionaire. Chairman Edward Lampert could temporarily stave off a liquidation, reports Reuters.com. The liquidation in question would have ended the 126-year-old U.S. department-store chain. Lampert’s latest attempt to rescue Sears came after his previous $4.4 billion bid fell short. This prompted the retailer to make liquidation preparations ahead of a bankruptcy court hearing in New York.

An attorney for Sears states Lampert is expected to submit a revised offer and a $120 million deposit. Sears will weigh Lampert’s offer against a proposed liquidation during a Jan. 14 bankruptcy auction. Should Lampert’s offer falter again, he will forfeit more than $17 million from his deposit to Sears creditors.

Unless Fast Eddie Lamprey misses making his deposit today, that means there likely won't be any news until Monday, which means I probably won't write any more on this story until Tuesday.  Even then, I am not optimistic his offer will win out over the other bids in the bankruptcy auction or succeed in keeping Sears and KMart open until the end of the year.  I fully expect to write a series of obituary posts for both chains, just as I did for Toys R Us.

Sears Holdings announces 80 more stores closing while company on verge of liquidation

I wrote that I was planning on writing about the likely deaths of Sears and KMart today after asking is JCPenney the next Sears?  It's time to follow through by sharing WXYZ's report from December 28th of last year that Sears to close 80 more stores.

Sears has announced that it is closing the store location at Twelve Oaks Mall in Novi. The company is set to close 80 more stores across the country.

The end was not as nigh as the WXYZ report made out, as CBS Philly reported that night that Sears Wins Reprieve From Liquidation.

Sears may have been saved from liquidation just hours after announcing the closure of more stores.

The report extended the lifespan of sears by two weeks.  In doing so, it put my prediction that "the Twelve Oaks Mall location in Novi...would be open until the entire chain goes under" in jeopardy.  That would be especially so if the bid is accepted.  However, CNBC places that in doubt, reporting It's lights out for Sears on Tuesday unless Eddie Lampert can sweeten his bid.

Sears and its chairman, Eddie Lampert, have been so far unable to resolve disagreements over his $4.4 billion bid to save Sears and 50,000 jobs by buying it out of bankruptcy through his hedge fund ESL Investments, people familiar with the situation tell CNBC.

Sears continues to inch toward liquidation, even while leaving Lampert room to have a last-minute about-face. Sears advisors this past Friday had told the bankruptcy judge it planned to announce a liquidation on Monday, one of the people said. By Sunday afternoon, Sears had decided it would give ESL until Tuesday morning before coming to and announcing a conclusion.

ESL's advisors worked through the weekend and into Monday. So far, Lampert's bid is insufficient. If he doesn't agree to concessions, the company will liquidate.

I have a feeling that Sears may go into liquidation today.  If so, this really was the last Christmas for Sears, which means I would be right when I wrote "Sears and KMart are not dead yet...but it probably won't be long."  In that case, my prediction that the Twelve Oaks location will be open until the entire chain goes under will turn out to be correct.  In this case, I'd almost rather be wrong.

I'll have more tomorrow on Fast Eddie Lamprey's rescue effort, regardless of how it turns out.  Stay tuned.

JCPenney stock falls below $1, prompting the question, 'is JCPenney the next Sears?'

While I've been busy covering the Sears Holdings bankruptcy, another department store chain has been having its own difficulties during the Retail Apocalypse, JCPenney, which I promised to write about in July 2018 and only now am getting around to.  CNN reported late last month that its stock fell below $1.00, always a bad sign.  That news prompted Eric of Retail Archeology to ask Is JCPenney The Next Sears?

A lot of bad news has come out recently about JCPenney. Let's talk about it while check out one of [their] stores during a time when it should be very busy.

Eric isn't the only one to make that comparison.  Forbes did as well, declaring 2019 Will Be The Year JCPenney Flips -- One Way Or Another.

It’s JCPenney’s turn in 2019.

If 2018 was the year Sears finally succumbed to the inevitable, and the year before marked the beginning of the end for Toys "R" Us, then this new year will be all about JCPenney.

Not that the retailer is going out of business, though that could be its ultimate fate. More likely, whatever happens to the beleaguered company over these next 12 months there will still be a JCPenney in the marketplace.

But 2019 will clearly be the year when the attention of creditors, financial institutions and, perhaps most importantly, the company’s vendors will be most focused on what the retailer does to survive. And JCPenney will need to address all of their concerns—one way or another.

This crisis has been a long time coming.  Eric uploaded an earlier video on JCPenney during April 2017.  In it, he wondered how long the chain would last, giving it the title JCPenney 1902 - ????

This episode features video tours of 2 JCPenney locations in the Phoenix, AZ area. JCPenney has begun to face financial difficulties and recently announced they would soon begin closing some stores.

As Eric pointed out in the later video, things have gotten worse since.

While the likely deaths of Sears and KMart have been attracting most of the attention during the Retail Apocalypse, the latest developments in which I plan on writing about tomorrow, the travails of JCPenney are coming to a head.  The conclusion of the Forbes article makes that very point.

Something is going to happen with JCPenney this year—something big. The retailer cannot keep going on as it has, its window is rapidly closing in the best traditions of that cliché.

With a market cap of barely $340 million, there isn’t too much breathing space left as the company has lost nearly 90% of its value. And it continues to dance dangerously around a threshold that was once inconceivable: JCPenney as a penny stock.

Looks like I've found the next big Retail Apocalypse story to follow.  Stay tuned.

Anderson Cooper shows other politicians besides Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez dance on The Rediculist

For today's Sunday entertainment feature, I'm taking a brief look at the nontroversey over a video of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez dancing when she was in college.  As Reuters reported, the attempt to use it to shame her backfired.

An attempt to embarrass newly elected U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez with a nine-year-old video showing her dancing while in college backfired when it drew a wave of support for the liberal lawmaker on social media.
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Twitter comments broke along partisan lines, with opponents describing the dance video as showing immaturity while supporters saw it as cute.

The failed attempt maked The Rediculist on CNN last week as Anderson Cooper showed that Ocasio-Cortez wasn't the only politician known for dancing in Ocasio-Cortez gets praise from 'The Breakfast Club'.

After an old video of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez dancing surfaced, CNN's Anderson Cooper takes a look back at other politicians who have busted a move on camera.

I'd rather watch Ocasio-Cortez dance than Rick Perry, that's for sure, although his inclusion demonstrates that young liberal women aren't the only politicians who can look silly while dancing.

Cooper wasn't the only one to have a good laugh at the incident.  Watch as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Dances, People Lose Their Minds on MSNBC's "All In With Chris Hayes."

An old video of newly sworn-in Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez dancing as a college student emerged - but didn't quite land as the attack it was intended to be.

I'd also rather watch Ocasio-Cortez dance than Paul Ryan flex.

While the anonymous Twitter troll botched this attack, that won't stop people on the Right from continuing their efforts.  To that I say, better luck next time — or maybe not.  I'll rather watch them blow it as hilariously as they did this time.

Vox on the collapse of Venezuela

I mentioned another collapsing country in Vox explains how Saudi Arabia became the largest buyer of U.S. arms and is using them in Yemen.

Another country whose collapse I should write about is Venezuela.  I have not written enough about its situation, either.  I also plan on correcting that.  Stay tuned.

On that note, I present The collapse of Venezuela, explained.

The country is in chaos, but its leaders aren't going anywhere.

Correction at 1:58: It's been brought to our notice that the Supreme Court tried to strip the country's National Assembly of its powers in March 2017 and not 2016. We regret the error.

The collapse of Venezuela and President Maduro's rise to dictatorship.

Venezuela was once the richest country in Latin America. It has the largest known oil reserves in the world. And its democratic government was once praised world wide.
But today, Venezuela's democratic institutions and its economy are in shambles. The country has the highest inflation in the world, making food and medicine inaccessible to most Venezuelans. Over the last four years, its GDP has fallen 35%, which is a sharper drop than the one seen during the Great Depression in the US. The country's murder rate has surpassed that of the most dangerous cities in the world. These conditions have sparked months of protests against the president, Nicolas Maduro. And it's easy to see why: the country has become measurably worse since his election in 2013.

The year in climate 2018

2018 is over, but I'm still not done with its retrospectives.  For a final non-entertainment look back, I present 13 Climate Stories You Might Have Missed in 2018 | Hot Mess.

Without a doubt, 2018 was a big year with Climate Change. So we're here to catch you up on a few of the stories you might have missed this year.

In some ways, this was more satisfying than either Google's Year In Search or YouTube Rewind.  Unfortunately, it was scarier.

One last video about 2018 in search

Wochit News had its own video about the top ten search terms of 2018.  While it isn't as uplifting as Google's, I think it reflects what people were looking for better than the official report.

Google has unveiled its Year in Search for 2018. The annual compilation contains the top worldwide Google searches of the year. This year's list includes several tragic deaths as well as the World Cup. As 2018 draws to a close, Google is looking back on the top searches of the year. Google narrows down the top-trending searches in the world over the past 12 months, terms that had the highest spike in traffic this year compared with 2017. These are not necessarily the terms that were searched the most often.

I plan on having one last retrospective of last year tomorrow.  Stay tuned.

Golden Globe movie predictions and television nominees for Science Fiction Day

Happy National Science Fiction Day!  For reasons I will explain later, I am not in a position to review the box office performance of 2019's speculative fiction movies.  I'll probably do that next week. Instead, I will share two videos about the Golden Globes that include the speculative fiction nominees.

First, Golden Globes 2019 Nominations & Predictions from Beyond the Trailer.

Golden Globes 2019 today! Beyond The Trailer's reaction to nominations! Black Panther! A Star is Born! Rami Malek! Spider-Verse!
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Golden Globes 2019 today! Beyond The Trailer host Grace Randolph's reaction & predictions of the nominations and winners! Vice, Black Panther, A Star is Born with Lady Gaga, Rami Malek for Bohemian Rhapsody, Mary Poppins Returns, Spider-Man Into the Spider-Verse and more! Share your own reaction to the nominations for the Golden Globes 2019, and your own predictions, before you watch the full show with host Andy Samberg & Sandra Oh! And make Beyond The Trailer your first stop for entertainment news on YouTube today!

Next, Golden Globes Nominations: FULL list of television nominees from Global News.

HBO's "Sharp Objects" and FX's "The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story" were among the top nominees for television during the Golden Globes nomination ceremony on December 6. The awards will be handed out in Hollywood on January 6.

I'll be back for the winners next week.

The marching bands and drum corps marching in the 2019 Rose Parade

Happy New Year!  I'm continuing a tradition by celebrating the marching bands and drum corps marching in the Rose Parade today.  First, the drum corps with Pacific Crest selected to march in 2019 Rose Parade from Drum Corps International.

Diamond Bar, California's Pacific Crest has been selected as one of the 20 marching music units that will participate in the 2019 Tournament of Roses Parade.

For a preview of their Rose Parade performance, I present Pacific Crest at Bandfest.

From Diamond Bar, California Celebrating 25 years of existence, Pacific Crest Drum & Bugle Corps performing their musical selections at the 39th Annual Pasadena Tournament of Roses Bandfest on Saturday, December 29th 2018.

Now, the rest of the Rose Parade 2019 Marching Bands : Tournament of Roses Parade.

Marching Bands of 2019 Rose Parade:
Alabama State University Mighty Marching Hornets - (Montgomery, AL)
All-Izumo Honor Green Band - (Izumo, Japan)
Banda Escolar de Guayanilla Puerto Rico - (Guayanilla, Puerto Rico)
Banda Municipal de Acosta - (Acosta, San José, Costa Rica)
Calgary Stampede Showband - (Calgary, Alberta, Canada)
Cavalcade of Bands Honor Band - (Mid-Atlantic Region)
Florida A&M University, The Incomparable Marching "100" - (Tallahassee, FL)
Flower Mound High School Band - (Flower Mound, TX)
Lincoln-Way Marching Band - (Frankfort, IL)
Los Angeles Unified School District – All District High School Honor Band - (Los Angeles, CA)
Mercer Island High School Marching Band - (Mercer Island, WA)
Munford High School Band - (Munford, TN)
Na Koa Ali`I - Hawai`i All-State Marching Band - (Kaneohe, HI)
Pacific Crest Drum & Bugle Corps - (Diamond Bar, CA)
Pasadena City College Tournament of Roses Honor Band & Herald Trumpets - (Pasadena, CA)
Pickerington Marching Band - (Pickerington, OH) Royal Swedish Cadet Band - (Karlskrona, Sweden)
The Lassiter High School Marching Trojan Band - (Marietta, GA)
The Salvation Army Tournament of Roses Band - (Long Beach, CA)
United States Marine Corps West Coast Composite Band - (San Diego, CA)

In addition, the bands of the schools participating in the Rose Bowl will be marching down Colorado Boulevard.  I predicted that The Ohio State University Marching Band would be in this year's Rose Parade in Olaf and other Disney balloons in Macy's Parade plus my favorite marching bands in today's parades and I was right.  I'd still rather I was wrong and Michigan was marching there instead.