Cracks appear in a retail landscape where hiring has flatlined

[rcjordan]

https://www.nbcnews.com/business/economy/retail-stores-hiring-closures-rcna195236


Cracks!??!  Hell, I'm looking at fault lines in my feeds. 

Buckle up and put your head between your legs. 

[rcjordan]

copy-paste from /r

Walgreens has agreed to be acquired by Sycamore Partners, a private equity group who also owns Staples and a bunch of clothing brands among a few other holdings.

Thoughts and prayers for our pharmacy colleagues. I didn't think it could much get worse in the retail pharmacy space, but bringing private equity into the equation might just have been the missing ingredient.

[Brad]

>private equity

In sailing ship terms: the breaker yard or at least where retail brands go to die.  I guess there are exceptions but that has been my observation.

[rcjordan]

Here is the playbook:

    Borrow the money to buy Walgreens;

    Create a bunch of shell companies that control Walgreens, lets call one of them "Walgreens II?;

    Dividend recapitalization time!!! Assign the debt used to purchase Walgreens to Walgreens II itself;

    End all employment contracts because those were with Walgreens, not Walgreens II;

    Stop funding pensions. That was Walgreens' obligation, not Walgreens II's.

    Pay themselves a huge dividend with the money they just "created;"

    Transfer all real estate to a holding company that they own;

    Lease the locations back to the Walgreens II; and

    Milk the business for all it is worth.

Once there is noting left to profit from, do a bankruptcy and move on to the next company.

https://old.reddit.com/r/medicine/comments/1j5gawq/walgreens_enters_agreement_to_be_acquired_by/mgj7vmz/

[rcjordan]

^{>buckle up}

Markets bet on Trump recession amid tariff trade war

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2025/03/10/trump-tariffs-markets-live-latest-news-pound-euro-ftse-100/


'Trumpcession' fears spike after Trump refuses to promise economic growth will continue | Fortune

https://fortune.com/2025/03/10/donald-trump-markets-trumpcession-economy-growth-tariffs/



Would Trump Risk a Recession? - The New York Times

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/10/business/dealbook/trump-recession-risk.html
   

[Brad]

A few months ago, the news was they were going to start closing Dollar Stores.  That's like a mass die-off of cock roaches.  When the dollar stores start closing it's the end times.  Everything in retail is up in the air.

[rcjordan]

When the Dollar Stores start closing it's the End Times.

Bwwaahahaha! True dat!  I'm stealing that quote.

+
Email broadcast sent.  Surprisingly, I didn't take credit for the quote.

[rcjordan]

3 headlines copied straight off one of my world news feeds just now...

[World] - 2-year Treasury yield hits lowest level since October amid recession fears | NBC (cnbc.com)

[World] - Airline CEOs warn domestic travel demand is slowing | NBC (cnbc.com)

[World] - Most of the S&P 500 is already in correction territory as benchmark teeters near milestone | NBC (cnbc.com)

[ergophobe]

>> domestic travel

I have not, but the neighbor got a vacation rental cancellation from someone worried about potential chaos in the national parks.

Realistically, what people don't realize is that almost all the front-line services that regular visitors interact with are run by concessions (stores, restaurants, hotels, bus system, bike rentals, raft rentals, horseback rides). The feds provide more the infrastructure that allows those services to function, which means that in the short term, Ramaswamy is right, you can lay off a lot of people and nobody will notice.

But fire, ambulance, search and rescue, law enforcement, concessions management, habitat restoration, road repairs and plowing, trail maintenance, water supply, water treatment, wastewater treatment, electrical systems, communication systems and so forth are all provided by or supported by the feds. Over time, letting those systems degrade really starts to hurt.

[rcjordan]

Feeds say that Canadians are aggressively cancelling upstate NY and similar CA-dependent vacation rental destinations.

[buckworks]

Also Florida.

[ergophobe]

Also our family book club....

[rcjordan]

>Florida

This is the beginning of the Off Season for CA to FL snowbirds.  Around Orlando in winter, it seemed that every 4th person was a CA snowbird.  I wonder if the cancellations will happen with them.  Good spots in RV parks are hard to get back if they give them up.

[Brad]

I wonder if next Fall the CAN snowbirds switch to going to Spain or Portugal for the winter and muscle the Brits out?

[buckworks]

I know one couple who have already booked space for next winter on Vancouver Island.