Which South Hills Village Stores Are Struggling To Survive?

UPPER ST. CLAIR, PA - The steep decline of brick-and-mortar retailers this year soon could result in several empty storefronts at South Hills Village. Although Gymboree, the latest chain to declare bankruptcy, doesn’t have a location there, several stores at the mall are struggling with mounting debt and an uncertain future.

Moody’s bond credit rating agency recently identified 21 other retailers with bond ratings low enough that bankruptcy is a distinct possibility. Sears, one of the mall’s anchor stores, is on that list as well as six other retailers either in the mall or on its periphery.

They are:

• Sears. Officials of the chain, which also operates Kmart, have publicly expressed doubt about its ability to continue operating.

• Eddie Bauer. “Although it has struggled with its identity in the past, beginning 2012 (Eddie Bauer) has focused on apparel geared towards the active, outdoor lifestyle which continues to be popular with consumers,” Moody’s recently wrote. “However, competition is stronger now than it was in the past.”

• J. Crew. According to a Bloomberg report, J. Crew has a $2 billion debt overhang, some $567 million of which will come due in 2019. Unless it can be restructured — and there is a lot of wrangling over that right now — the chain probably won’t have time to turn the business around.

• Claire’s Both Moody’s and Fitch have identified Claire’s as a retailer that has a significant risk of debt default over the next 12 months

Not on the Moody’s list was Justice, which has a store in the mall. But the chain’s parent company earlier this year announced it would close many of those locations in the near future.

Photo by Mike Mozart via Creative Commons.