On Nov 22, 5:14*am, Tom Francis - SWSports
wrote:
On Fri, 21 Nov 2008 20:35:04 -0800, "Calif Bill"





wrote:

"Tom Francis - SWSports" wrote in
messagenews:hjpdi4h40lr1qg3aq3uqttnf421fvnoife@4a x.com...
On Fri, 21 Nov 2008 11:33:07 -0500, "Eisboch" wrote:

"Tom Francis - SWSports" wrote in
messagenews:ddodi4p9m8npcg5sqe4bsol3rj1lasofgd@ 4ax.com...
On Fri, 21 Nov 2008 11:06:51 -0500, "Eisboch" wrote:

My wife just received an e-mail notice from a friend at our bank.

It was a heads-up regarding buying gift cards as Christmas/Holiday gifts
and
included a list of
over 30 stores in our general area (MA) that are closing their doors in
this
area or are going out of business nationwide. * The list includes
companies
from Circuit City, Home Depot to Disney Stores and clothing outlets.

Gift cards purchased for these stores may end up being worthless, so the
notice was a reminder to be careful in which ones you choose to
purchase.

Um...you need to be careful about these emails - they are going around
and a lot of the information is bogus.

I think this one is legit. * I looked over the list of stores and there
were
many that I already knew were closing up shop. * I didn't check all of
them
though.

The gift card problem was also identified on a recent news article I read
somewhere. *The card is worthless if there is no store in which to redeem
it.

Well, take Movie Gallery for instance. *They filed for Chapter 11 in
2007 I think and they are still in business and they still honor gift
cards. *Home Depot is no where near Chapter 11 terrority and neither
is Disney. *Stores may close - that is always a possibility, but that
doesn't mean the company is in Chapter 11.

And you have to remember that Chapter 11 does not mean that they can't
honor gift cards - Chapter 11 is just a method of reorganizing an
dkeeping the creditors at bay until the restructuring is completed.

There's always an element of truth in these emails - I haven't seen
the list, but I've been told about it and some of the companies listed
seem a little iffy in terms of bankruptcy.

Then again, I'm always suspicious of emails like this - it's my
optimistic nature.

Plus the fact that I'm a moron. *:)

The fact is the chain might not close, but the store near you will. *So the
card is still valid, just no place within 40 miles to cash it in.

I just counted - 12 Home Depots within 30 miles of my house. *Two of
them are exactly 3 miles from each other in different towns and three
are within 10 miles of each other in two three different states.

That's a little over kill if you ask me.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

But just think if the ratio of overkill was for Starbucks. There would
be one every 30 yards. Maybe 30 feet.