Linens and Things, Going Under (cash in your giftcards)

http://www.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idUSN0256161020080502

A friend tells me there is talk they won't honor giftcards, quite bogus I think, but old links I can find on that indicate they intend to. Does anyone have any newer links that says otherwise?

http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/idUS190378+05-May-2008+BW20080505

I'm not a frequent shopper there but it does cause me concern that a retailer, after paying for your goods (giftcard) would even suggest they aren't good for it.....

Just FYI.

They accept gift cards at the closing stores.

http://www.bargaineering.com/articles/linens-n-things-to-declare-bankruptcy-dont-hold-gift-cards.html

They are still selling gift cards on their website. If they are no longer good wouldn't they have to quit selling them?

http://www.lnt.com/family/index.jsp?categoryId=1920416&clickid=botnav_giftcards

Not sure, may just be the closing stores no longer selling them in-store. But not ALL stores are closing, thus you still have some stores to cash them in.

Just makes me think giftcarding isn't a good practice for presents. Rachel Ray thought it was the tackiest gift you could give. But the more annoying part is knowing a retailer MAY not have to honor them.

Oh, TNN, I know what you're saying. I agree 100%. Years ago I got a gift cert from a local shop for Christmas. I loved that little shop. I didn't visit often because they were out of my price range. Since I didn't visit often I didn't know they were going out of business. Well, I never got to use my $50 gift cert and I lost out. Bummer. I think that probably happens a lot. I felt so stooooopid.

If nothing else hopefully folks can use their gift cards online and not get stuck with them...but then you have to pay shipping and lose out a little so it's not really fair.

Thanks for the heads up; we better ck our wallets and see what gift cards we still have from Christmas.

Let Rachel Ray go shoppping for clothes with my teenage daughter, then tell me she wouldn't much rather give a gift card and let her pick it out. LOL

Bwahahaha!

Well, if you give a gift card that goes unused, you are only wasting a little bit of plastic. Unused gifts may be more wasteful. Either way- the store got money and you got nothing too good. Might as well have just given a nice card! I think there needs to be a revolution in the gift giving mentality! My son's friend also has several unused gift cards.

I'm always quick to use 'em. Otherwise I'll lose 'em!

I think the sending of cards is a waste.

agree- I hate spending almost three bucks on commercial greeting cards- Hallmark must make a killing.

That's why we call them "Hallmark holidays" in our house, lol. :)

Linens and Things filed for restructure only, not complete bankruptcy. Of course they'll probably have to close some stores to restructure, but the company as a whole isn't closing. Don't panic everyone, it'll be alright :-) And remember, if they do end up filing complete bankruptcy, we still have Bed, Bath, and Beyond, which I like better anyway, they send coupons in the newspaper every now and again.

Do you have links about the restructure? Everything I've read says they filed bankruptsy, and yes, it's not every store, only 120 nationwide.

I to like BBB better myself but still, that barely includes one purchase a year there.

And like the first link says, alllll those specialty stores are having hard times. A sign of the times.

There are 2 different kinds of bankruptcy, Chapter 11 and Chapter 13. Yes, they did file bankruptcy, Chapter 11 bankruptcy. This is simply to reorganize and restructure the company, not to close it. Dillards and a bunch of others are doing the same thing.

Chapter 13 is complete bankruptcy, this means that they are so far in debt reorganization won't work, even closing all of the stores won't pay all the debts sometimes.

Go to snopes.com, up in the upper right hand corner is a search field, type in "linens and things" the first search result that shows up is the email and the facts about what's really going on.

Okay, thank-you. I'm not familiar with bankruptsy, but did not mean to imply all their stores were closing, just that a bulk of them are.

I'm sure. I imagine it would be hard to reorganize without closing some stores. You'd have to be in some serious trouble to file at all. Right, I understood that, but there are a lot of people that think they're closing completely so I wanted to clear the air for everyone involvled. I personally like Bed Bath and Beyond more. I can't go into that store without spending at least $150.00! It's crazy!

Just received this info by email:

http://www.snopes.com/politics/business/storeclosings.asp

Thnaks for the list AND the snopes clarification

Yes, I'm trying to be better---a friend checks snopes with EVERY forward I send and so now I hardly ever pass on forwards just because I know better---most are made up.

Two other good sites for verifying stories are

http://truthorfiction.com and http://urbanlegends.about.com

I can't imagine not going right out and using a gift card. I love to shop, but try to stay out of stores unless I have the money to spend. I spend much less that way than if I "window shop". LOL

Shoot, I tried to go buy some housewares this weekend. STAY OUT STAY OUT LOL----the stores are a madhouse! I couldn't believe it! I won't be going back except for groceries until after Christmas (and ONE mid-week shopping trip for presents at a one stop shop haha).

We went to our local Linens and Things that is closing looking for bargins on some cookware. Still way to expensive. Only like 20% off which ain't much. But the TV adds are saying 60% off.

Wow that's disappointing. I've avoided it thinking it would be picked over by now but I guess not!

What a lot of places do is hire liquidators who come in and add product, re-label the items so they appear to have sold for more to begin with, then mark them "down". It's a big racket, what these liquidators do.

ahhhh...I couldn't believe we walked out of there with nothing...we were ready to spend some money. I always felt they were overpriced to start with on a lot of their stuff. Ended up finding what we wanted at Bed Bath & Beyond anyway.