Today began the wind down in the liquidation process for local Circuit City stores after the electronics chain announced yesterday that it would be filing for bankruptcy. Circuit City has 30 stores instate and ten in the immediate area (plus one in Woodbridge, NJ), but the store was not available to say just how many local employees it would have to lay off. Consumerist has an FAQ about the liquidation process—encouraging customers to use their leftover gift cards ASAP, return any unwanted purchases before January 30th and avoid the "big liquidation sales" which they describe as a gimmick where after markups, prices end up "the same or even higher than the price before the liquidation." Any employees laid off in the closing will receive pay and benefits for a 60-day period that began yesterday. Economists fear that Circuit City may just be the first in a number of closings to be announced after holiday sales figures for retailers were even lower than projected. more ›

In the Wall Street Journal's article about expected post-holiday bankruptcy filings from retailers, ubiquitous NYC drug (and lots of other stuff) store Duane Reade might be on that list! "According to Standard & Poor's, nine U.S. retailers and restaurants, including off-price apparel chain Loehmann's Holdings Inc., drugstore operator Duane Reade Holdings Inc. and jeweler Finlay Enterprises Inc. are at significant risk of default, with junk-bond ratings of CCC, or 'very weak.'" But a DR spokesman told the WSJ the chain is "a vibrant and viable retail operation, and any suggestion to the contrary is inaccurate." He also cited "positive trends" at 1+ year old stores, pointed to nearly $70 million in available credit and said there were "no liquidity issues." A 2005 New York magazine article had noted that in 2004, "the company’s profit margin hovered around 1 percent, about a third of what national chains take home," which is good for New York but nothing to copy. more ›