As we head into 2010, big name companies that won't survive until 2020?

[dizluvah]

Add me to the list of people who believe Starbucks Heyday is way behind them - I'm not saying they are going bankrupt - I'm not saying people don't love Starbucks I just think the high of their company is behind them. Starbucks popularity varies widely regionally - I live in New England and Dunkin Donuts is a religion here and no matter what around here Dunks is king, not starbucks. We do have starbucks but not nearly as many as other places I've lived.....

On that note I will through out my guess for another company that will be gone by 2020

United Airlines

why? - I believe their market has shrunk to business travellers and premium seat or first class customers - they can't compete with other "discount" airliners for the budget minded traveler - Jetblue and Southwest rule with those travelling on a tight budget

That's my prediction

 

[MaumeeMom]

Yeah, Blockbuster needs to go. We sometimes buy used DVDs there and were going to rent one. It was older but was $5 to rent! No way! We use Redbox or our Family Video (much cheaper and always has deals like bogo and stuff) when we want something specific or obscure.
I don't know about Starbucks. They might close some more stores, but I can't see them going out of business. It is an affordable luxury.
Kmart...good riddance! HATE that store. Dirty, crowded, never have what they've advertised. Yuck.

One of the reasons we moved to Netflix was because the library and rental places here all had bad discs. Most were so scratched that they don't play. Are the Redbox DVDs usually okay? We have only had two bad DVDs out of about 60 that we have rented from Netflix (we average 2 DVDs in the mail a week).

As for Starbucks, there were a bunch that closed around here but I couldn't figure out what there strategy was - they opened a stand alone store at a mall that already had one in the BN store. Needless to say, the stand alone closed after only a few months. I just finished a hot cocoa from our BN's site. Since I don't drink coffee, I don't pay too much attention to the coffee shops so I don't know how busy they are around here.

I absolutely love our Barnes and Noble. The staff is great and the selection is wonderful at our local store. Actually, we were just at story time at the one here. It is usually crowded but with today's weather there were only a few kids. Even with the paid membership we save tons with discounts and emailed coupons, much more than when we belonged to Books-a-Million or Borders. With the e-books, the vendor who handles them better will survive and I think by launching the Nook, that will be Barnes and Noble. They also have a great twitter presence and utilize other social media better than the other bookstores (IMO).

 

[onelilspark]

I live in Rochester...home of Kodak. While it's not nearly the company it used to be, I'd be shocked if it went under. They're investing in a lot of new technolgy. Not to mention, even before moving here, I've only had Kodak digital cameras. I need a camera that takes good pictures and is simple for me to use. Kodak fits that bill. And quite frankly, when it comes to pictures, I trust the Kodak name. The article is a lot of speculation on Kodak, nothing that was too sound logic (IMO anyway.)

As for Barnes and Nobles v. Borders. I pick Borders everytime.

 

[Pixie Dust for Me!]

My list:

1) Radio Shack -- I've heard they are trying to rebrand themselves as "The Shack" but I don't think it will fly!
2) O'Charleys Restaurants
3) Pizza Hut
4) Barnes and Noble -- ours are always vacant and our Borders is always full
5) The Container Store

That's all I can think of now.

K

 

[kydisneyfans]

MSNBC

Only newspapers where 2 are in the same town. As an insider, some of the numbers for Q4 are going to pleasantly surprise Wall Street in January.

Home Depot-never busy, closed 1 store already, and backed out of building 2 more around here.

Perkins Pancakes-does anyone eat at any Perkins anymore?

Max and Ermas-maybe too late there.

 

[NotUrsula]

As to K-Mart/Sears/Land's End (all same company), well ...

Sears is reinventing itself as a hard-goods specialist. I think you will see them completely drop soft-goods within the next 3 years. If they do it right, they will stick around.

Land's End is the best asset, but they are not using it as well as they could, I don't think. It's a VERY popular brand with Boomers, but they have to be careful not to let their quality slide. BTW, my local Sears' stores soft-goods area is now about 95% Land's End -- they might as well change all the signage on the upper floor and make that a Land's End store while the lower floor keeps the Sears signage.

K-Mart isn't as dead as a lot of people think it is, because the few remaining suburban stores are not representative of a typical store. For the past several years now they have been concentrating on underserved urban markets, and they do quite well in that niche. I shop there quite frequently now for certain items. (For instance, my nearest store has a HUGE selection of hair accessories for very young girls, like packets of 100 small Goody ponytail elastics for $1.25. Neither WalMart or Target carries that package locally. Why? Because neither of them caters to the AA market, but K-Mart does. Little black girls tend to use a whole lot more tiny barrettes and ponytail holders than same-age white girls do.)

 

[Feralpeg]

We have a brand new Barnes & Noble in our area. It is always busy. I really like Barnes & Noble. Someone mentioned before that you have to pay for their membership. That is true, but it more than pays itself back for me by the number of books I purchase there. I also get a lot of discount coupons emailed to me because of my membership.

The K-Mart in our area does a pretty good business. It looks pretty shabby, but always seems to have a lot of cars out front.

Someone mentioned Perkins. I love eating at Perkins. Nothing like breakfast 24 hours a day. They have amazing french toast! I eat at the Perkins near Downtown Disney. That place always has customers no matter what time of the day or night.

 

[Planogirl]

I forgot restaurants and grocery stores. I don't see how Burger King survives because they always look so desolate. I can also see a steak chain or two closing because there are so many of them.

Albertsons has just about left this area which is fine because they were awful. I don't know how they're doing in other areas though.

 

[Ephany]

Somewhat OT, I know - but for a parcel post package to cost $69, it would have had to weigh between 69 and 70 pounds and be going to California.

UPS's least expensive price for that weight/destination is $68.90, goes via UPS Ground, and takes five business days. To get that weight package to California by Friday via UPS would cost $274.72.

I figured something was screwed up in the system, the package was only 10-11 lbs. They were adamant on the quote though so there wasn't much I could do but go to UPS. I do love my home delivery though, we walked to the post office across town growing up and I don't miss that one little bit.

 

[golfgal]

Add me to the list of people who believe Starbucks Heyday is way behind them - I'm not saying they are going bankrupt - I'm not saying people don't love Starbucks I just think the high of their company is behind them. Starbucks popularity varies widely regionally - I live in New England and Dunkin Donuts is a religion here and no matter what around here Dunks is king, not starbucks. We do have starbucks but not nearly as many as other places I've lived.....

On that note I will through out my guess for another company that will be gone by 2020

United Airlines

why? - I believe their market has shrunk to business travellers and premium seat or first class customers - they can't compete with other "discount" airliners for the budget minded traveler - Jetblue and Southwest rule with those travelling on a tight budget

That's my prediction

There are NO Dunkin Donuts around here so by that fact I could say DD is going out of business??

MSNBC

Only newspapers where 2 are in the same town. As an insider, some of the numbers for Q4 are going to pleasantly surprise Wall Street in January.

Home Depot-never busy, closed 1 store already, and backed out of building 2 more around here.

Perkins Pancakes-does anyone eat at any Perkins anymore?

Max and Ermas-maybe too late there.

I was at Perkins just today--the place was packed.

This is the part where it is difficult to predict based on what is going on in your neighborhood. Take DD, they are still regional and while they may be popular on the east coast, we have NONE of them around here. Personally I perfer Dunn Brothers but if you don't live in our area, you have never heard of them. I have never heard of max and Erma's so I don't even know what kind of business they are. Barnes and Nobel has already put Borders out of business in our area for the most part.

 

[LoraJ]

For those who say GPS will go away because of internet available in cars, wouldn't you still need the GPS to detect the cars location?

The thought of internet in cars scares me actually. In what capacity would it be used? It's bad enough with people texting, now I have to worry about people DISing while they drive? Although that can already be done on smart phones and netbooks. I have heard of it being used for internet radio, but I think there would be much more dropouts than satelite.

 

[lacrosse_lady72]

For those who say Starbucks will go under, it will certainly never go under completely. It is a HUGE... HUGE place in my area as in, there are 6 in a single square mile in my town and I live in the suburbs. All of these stores, including those in the supermarket, are packed all the time. I've even seen them packed at 3 in the morning (we have a couple of 24 hr. stores).

Starbucks may not do well in some regions but it beyond thrives in the Pacific Northwest as it should since a) it was founded in Seattle and b) we're a coffee-loving region.

 

[ratherbeatdisney]

Wow, I didn't know AOL still existed! They are the Atari of the internet world.

in my job i have to ask people for their email addresses. you would be surprised how many people still give me AOL emails, its crazy. i dont get it, i HATED aol when i used it, that was like 13 years ago, i just dont see a need for aol. most people i know have highspeed internet, why would you pay for aol on top of that???

And i cant believe someone said they thought starbucks might fail?? i dont know where you live, but those places are PACKED everytime i go near one. they might have had a few locations close, but lots more open up, they have less than zero chance of closing IMO. they may close some locations that dont perform as well as others, but the places that perform well, and there are LOTS do a TON of business, i dont think they have a THING to worry about.

 

[ratherbeatdisney]

As to K-Mart/Sears/Land's End (all same company), well ...

Sears is reinventing itself as a hard-goods specialist. I think you will see them completely drop soft-goods within the next 3 years. If they do it right, they will stick around.

Land's End is the best asset, but they are not using it as well as they could, I don't think. It's a VERY popular brand with Boomers, but they have to be careful not to let their quality slide. BTW, my local Sears' stores soft-goods area is now about 95% Land's End -- they might as well change all the signage on the upper floor and make that a Land's End store while the lower floor keeps the Sears signage.

K-Mart isn't as dead as a lot of people think it is, because the few remaining suburban stores are not representative of a typical store. For the past several years now they have been concentrating on underserved urban markets, and they do quite well in that niche. I shop there quite frequently now for certain items. (For instance, my nearest store has a HUGE selection of hair accessories for very young girls, like packets of 100 small Goody ponytail elastics for $1.25. Neither WalMart or Target carries that package locally. Why? Because neither of them caters to the AA market, but K-Mart does. Little black girls tend to use a whole lot more tiny barrettes and ponytail holders than same-age white girls do.)

where i live the kmarts are only in the urban areas and they are still dead, at any given time i would walmart or target have at LEAST 10 times the amount of customers walking around in it. EVERYTIME i go in the Kmart near me it is so dead i dont get how they are still open. With Walmart and target getting bigger and bigger, Kmart is doomed to fail this decade IMO, i am surprised its not gone allready.

 

[Planogirl]

It sounds like both Barnes and Noble and Borders are having their issues. From ibtimes.com:

Barnes & Noble cuts outlook; Borders sales fall

By Phil Wahba
24 November 2009 @ 06:08 pm ET
NEW YORK - Barnes & Noble Inc cut its full-year forecast on expectations of a tough holiday season and high costs for its Nook electronic reader, while rival Borders Group Inc posted a wider-than-expected loss. Shares of both booksellers fell sharply.

Quotes
BKS 19.56 -0.21
BGP 1.42 0.14


Barnes and Borders are caught in a holiday book price war between Amazon.com Inc and Wal-Mart Stores Inc as they try to compete with the move of book sales online.

Shares of Barnes & Noble fell 6.5 percent, while Borders dropped 9.0 percent.

Barnes & Noble, the largest U.S. bricks and mortar bookseller with 775 stores, reported a quarterly loss that was in line with analysts' expectations, but lowered its full-year outlook.

The company said last week that it had sold out of its Nook e-readers due to high demand, which could hurt its sales while benefiting Amazon, which sells the market-leading Kindle.

Industry experts have said that electronic readers sold by Amazon, Sony Corp <6758.T>, Barnes & Noble and others will be top-selling electronic gadgets for the holidays.

Barnes & Noble said on Tuesday that it was accelerating its production schedule for the Nook and would incur higher costs.

The Nook costs and expectations of a tough holiday shopping season prompted Barnes & Noble to lower its full-year earnings-per-share forecast to a range of 33 cents to 63 cents, the company said. It previously had expected 59 cents to 89 cents.

Barnes & Noble said its loss had widened to $24.0 million, or 43 cents per share, in the second quarter ended October 31 from $18.4 million, or 34 cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding one-time transaction expenses from the acquisition of Barnes & Noble College Booksellers in September, the company said it had lost 30 cents per share. That was in line with analysts' expectations, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Sales rose 4 percent to $1.16 billion from $1.11 billion.

BORDERS SALES FALL

Borders' loss from continuing operations was far larger than what Wall Street analysts had expected. Sales at stores open for at least a year fell 12.1 percent at its Borders Superstores and 7.2 percent at its Waldenbooks stores.

Same-store sales, excluding multimedia, were down 8.5 percent.

Earlier in November, Borders said Waldenbooks would become a smaller, more-profitable chain in 2010 as it planned to cut 200 stores. It also said it would cut 1,500 positions, most of which are part-time.

Borders provided no outlook for the holiday season, but appeared to be ramping up at its Superstores sites.

"We increased core book inventories, experimented with a range of traffic-driving and in-store promotions and invested in store payroll to get books out on the shelves and our stores in top condition to receive customers," Chief Executive Ron Marshall said in a statement.

Borders' loss from continuing operations was $39 million, or 65 cents per share, in the third quarter ended October 31.

Analysts on average had forecast a loss of 45 cents a share, according to Reuters I/B/E/S. Overall sales fell 12.7 percent to $595.5 million from $682.1 million.

 

[Papa Deuce]

......



K-Mart isn't as dead as a lot of people think it is, because the few remaining suburban stores are not representative of a typical store. For the past several years now they have been concentrating on underserved urban markets, and they do quite well in that niche. I shop there quite frequently now for certain items. (For instance, my nearest store has a HUGE selection of hair accessories for very young girls, like packets of 100 small Goody ponytail elastics for $1.25. Neither WalMart or Target carries that package locally. Why? Because neither of them caters to the AA market, but K-Mart does. Little black girls tend to use a whole lot more tiny barrettes and ponytail holders than same-age white girls do.)

Heck, In K-Marts near me you can literally walk in and see less than 5 customers in the whole place. One of them just closed down. The parking lot area for them never had more than 10 cars, it seemed, and I bet there were at least a few employee cars among those 10.

Plus they are FILTHY. At least Target and Walmart near me are clean.

 

[N.Bailey]

Heck, In K-Marts near me you can literally walk in and see less than 5 customers in the whole place. One of them just closed down. The parking lot area for them never had more than 10 cars, it seemed, and I bet there were at least a few employee cars among those 10.

Plus they are FILTHY. At least Target and Walmart near me are clean.

When I say my area, I am always referring to the next town over that's an hour away. It really sucks to have to travel for even the most basic of stores.

In my area though, the K-Mart is very clean, but it's ALWAYS empty. I am amazed that they've managed to hold on this long. It's VERY irritating to buy some things there. Take DVDs for example. They treat their customers like their thief's and lock up all newer releases in the same manner other stores lock up their video games. Then to top that off, they just shove them in a case and the ONLY thing a person can read is the titles from the side. It's so hard to go thru 100s of movies to see if they even have anything you're interested in. If they do, it's normally top dollar (well, it's always been top dollar when I've been there, but I'd imagine from time to time certain titles do go on sale).

On top of that, they have the Martha Stewart line and if you're interested in any other brand, you will not find it here IF the product is direct competition with the Martha Stewart line (and that line is WAY overpriced).

Then add in that their sales are the worst in the industry (against it's competition at least).

I just see no reason to shop there; and apparently, judging by their parking lot, a lot of people agree.

 

[my3sonsagn]

in my job i have to ask people for their email addresses. you would be surprised how many people still give me AOL emails, its crazy. i dont get it, i HATED aol when i used it, that was like 13 years ago, i just dont see a need for aol. most people i know have highspeed internet, why would you pay for aol on top of that???
QUOTE]

I still have an AOL email address, but I no longer have the AOL software loaded on my computer; I just sign in to email via aol.com. I would imagine a lot of people do the same thing. Using aol.com is free, too; I haven't paid for the service in years. It was the first email addy I had, and I'm too lazy to try to notify everyone I would need to of a change though I do have others now.

 

[legalsea]

Let us remember that an individual preference or experience will not necessarily mean the business in question will survive until 2020.

Hence, having a Starbucks in your neighborhood that is 'always busy' is meaningless to the broader issue of whether Starbucks the corporate entity will survive to 2020.

For instance: if, in 1987, you went into an American Motors dealership and purchased one of their vehicles, that would not give you a rational basis to conclude that American Motors will survive to year 2000 (it did not; it expired that same year).

I myself enjoyed my local Circuit City. It was a clean store and seemed always busy. I liked the people. I liked the displays. However, despite my personal preference of Circuity City over Best Buy, Circuit City no longer exists. Strange, but true.

 

[DarthKTrava]

in my job i have to ask people for their email addresses. you would be surprised how many people still give me AOL emails, its crazy. i dont get it, i HATED aol when i used it, that was like 13 years ago, i just dont see a need for aol. most people i know have highspeed internet, why would you pay for aol on top of that???

And i cant believe someone said they thought starbucks might fail?? i dont know where you live, but those places are PACKED everytime i go near one. they might have had a few locations close, but lots more open up, they have less than zero chance of closing IMO. they may close some locations that dont perform as well as others, but the places that perform well, and there are LOTS do a TON of business, i dont think they have a THING to worry about.

I still have my AOL account. All I pay for is the high speed internet through Time Warner Cable. AOL became free email and IM services some years ago.