Southern Ontario Retail Blog

GNC has filed for chapter 11 today  in the US and is currently closing up to 1290 stores worldwide. GNC has been struggling for a long time now and this announcement came as no surprise. A list of closings can be found here . Around 29 Canadian stores are expected to close so far.

Walmart announced that they are closing all 106 Tire and Lube Express auto centres in their store. The 50 Mr.Lube locations in Walmarts will not be affected. I thought Walmart closed all their first-party auto centres years ago after a lot of them around me turned into Mr.Lube, but I guess not. Source  CTV News  

On Friday, American department store chain, J.C.Penney filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy after a missed debt payment. As a result, they plan on closing 850 stores across the US. It's not surprising to hear that Penney's went bankrupt as they were struggling pretty badly in the past decade. Sadly, this won't be the last department store chain to file for Chapter 11.

Pier 1 logo Today, Pier 1 put a notice on their website saying that they are filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy as the company pursues a sale of its US business. As a result, Pier 1 decided to cease Canadian operations and close all of their Canadian stores. There goes another retailer killed by a changing industry. :( Via C TV News

Yikes, Another one bites the dust! Hudson's Bay Co. announced that they are closing all 39 Home Outfitter locations by the end of the year. HBC says that this move is part of a plan to "costs, simplify the business and improve overall profitability."  HBC is also reviewing their Saks OFF 5th Chain and might shutter some stores. This news comes after Payless announced last week the closure of all their US and Canadian stores. This news comes after Payless announced last week that they are closing all of their Canadian and US stores. Source:  Global News