"Tom Francis - SWSports" wrote in
message ...
On Fri, 21 Nov 2008 11:33:07 -0500, "Eisboch" wrote:


"Tom Francis - SWSports" wrote in
message ...
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.