Industry Watch: Keeping an eye on layoffs, bankruptcies and closings… Who’s next?

Among mainstream stores and suppliers, lists grow longer each day it seems of shutterings, bankruptcies, layoffs and rumors of demise. From Mervyns and Home Depot, to Circuit City and Starbucks, we read daily about the financial and human toll the economy is taking on businesses.

The same sadly holds true for our industries. We hear reports and rumors daily about a manufacturer or store that is or will be laying off more employees or reducing stores -- or filing for bankruptcy protection. To survive, those decisions could be a necessary evil, but it could be argued that some companies are in this situation only because they were not as smart about growth as they could have been – and may not have or are not now taking the appropriate steps to survive the slowdown. Remember the dot-com era? One website (www.fu_____company.com – you fill in the blanks since there was one word that not even SNEWS® is willing to publish) tracked the dot-com industry’s unfolding drama of companies collapsing and workers losing everything – click here to find what is left of that website. Ironically, like the dot-com’s it covered, it too hasn’t survived – perhaps that’s a good sign – and can’t even sell its URL.

Starting today, in a less morbid fashion we hope, SNEWS is tracking the economic impacts, both large and small, as outdoor and fitness industry companies work to navigate through today’s marketplace of minefields. In the chart below, you will find a company name, the date of some “action,” a brief summary of the situation – layoffs, closings, bankruptcy filings – and then a link to the appropriate SNEWS news with more information and details. It is certainly sobering to see an account of the impacts on our industries in one list, rather than scattered here and there among headlines and archives as individual articles. We will keep you posted as we update the list when new reports of turmoil roll in. Feel free to drop us a note at snewsbox@snewsnet.com if you know of companies or individuals who have been impacted and should be added to our list – or of ones we have missed. As always details and dates are appreciated. Naturally, we keep the sources of our reports confidential, if requested, and we fact-check every tip.

Check out our current SNEWS Reader Poll – a new ongoing feature since our website redesign launched in January – that ask, “If the economy does not improve in the next six months, do you believe additional businesses are at risk of going under?” The poll was posted Jan. 26 and will remain active until Feb. 9. Simply click here to voice your opinion. To view the regularly updated survey results as well as past Reader Polls and their results, click here or, simply log in at www.snewsnet.com and scroll down the right navigation bar until you arrive at the colorful survey graphic.

And, if you have not yet seen our blog posting on the subject of layoffs, click here to read…and to chime in should you desire.