Zombie J.C. Penney Finally Files for Bankruptcy, in Deal with Distressed Debt Funds. Stock and Some Bonds Wiped Out by Wolf Richter • May 16, 2020 • 139 Comments Investors bet on this outcome for years. Covid-19 just sped it up by a few months. Department Stores Are Toast.
Here’s What Collapsed, Spiked, or Hung On in 12 Charts of Retail Sales (Yes, Department Stores Were Already Toast) by Wolf Richter • May 15, 2020 • 141 Comments Years of brick-and-mortar meltdown get compressed into a few months. But ecommerce is booming.
US Commercial Real Estate Prices Plunged in April, Mall Prices Collapsed by Wolf Richter • May 11, 2020 • 171 Comments Tenants’ collapsing one after the other without replacement has a pernicious impact on property prices.
Can Macy’s Survive this Crisis Without Filing for Bankruptcy? by Wolf Richter • Apr 28, 2020 • 121 Comments Its unsecured bonds crashed 53% since Feb 14. It has been living off its real estate portfolio of “owned boxes” for years by selling them.
Supermarket Sales Jumped, Alcohol Sales Spiked 33% & Online Grocery Sales 100%, But “Non-Food” Sales Collapsed by Nick Corbishley • Apr 25, 2020 • 141 Comments How the Virus Crisis Flipped UK Retail Sales Upside Down.
Here’s Where Retail Sales Spiked and Collapsed in 11 Mind-Blowing Charts of Lockdown Land by Wolf Richter • Apr 15, 2020 • 165 Comments But department stores will never recover; they were toast before the lockdowns.
A Word About Hong Kong’s Retail Sales Collapse: It’s a Mess by Nick Corbishley • Apr 1, 2020 • 57 Comments Sales at luxury goods stores, once the largest category, collapsed by 86% since their peak in 2013-2014.
Foretaste of the Lockdown-Driven Collapse in the Services & Retail Sectors: Holy Moly, What a Catastrophic Mess by Wolf Richter • Mar 31, 2020 • 220 Comments Services account for 70% of the US economy. Here’s what’s happening to services and retail in economic powerhouse Texas.
Post-Lockdown New Normal: Many Brick & Mortar Stores Will Not Reopen, CMBS will Default, Mess to Ensue by Wolf Richter • Mar 30, 2020 • 245 Comments Neither the Fed nor the Treasury can bail out brick-and-mortar retailers.
Coronavirus May Deliver Coup de Grace to Overrated Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities (CMBS) by Marc Joffe • Mar 24, 2020 • 72 Comments S&P made up for its tardiness by downgrading the CMBS in one fell swoop by 9 notches from AAA to BBB-, just one notch above junk.
