Whoa. just when we thought it couldn’t get much worse than Mervyn’s, one regional chain is throwing in the towel and three others are struggling badly. The big news, surrounding northeastern department store Boscov’s, is fresh from this morning:

About half the major suppliers to Boscov’s, a family-held Reading, Pa.-based department store with stores across the mid-Atlantic, have halted merchandise shipments for lack of payments, The New York Post reported Friday, citing unnamed sources.

PlainVanillaShell has more, reporting that the 97-year-old, family-owned chain is nearing collapse. Boscov’s has stores stretching from Virginia to New York, with the bulk of their locations in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.

Meanwhile, Dawahare’s, a small, storied retailer with stores in Kentucky and West Virginia, announced this week that they will shut all of their 31 stores, many of them located in small Appalachian cities and towns hit hard by a poor economy.

Goody’s, a Tennessee-based retailer of family clothing with locations primarily in the southeast, has also filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy and is closing 69 of their 355 stores.

And last but not least, long-troubled Bob’s Stores, a Connecticut-based chain of mid-priced casual clothing stores owned by TJX, has been put on the market. TJX acquired them in 2003 when the original, independent Bob’s Stores chain went bankrupt, but has been unable to turn them arond.

Corpus Christi, the largest city in South Texas, is home to 285,000 people with over 430,000 in the metro area.  Home to HEB grocery stores, the Whataburger fast food chain, Corpus Christi is also the 8th largest deep sea port in the U.S.  The following submission is from reader “Jonah Norason” and his experience with Sunrise Mall, one of Corpus Christi’s two adjacent malls:

“I have a special connection with this mall. It was my first dead mall experience. Owned by Tom Morris, the slumlord of Six Flags Mall, Sunrise Mall is another story of why moving very close to an existing mall is generally a bad idea.

“From what I could tell, the mall started out as pretty upscale, virtually right next to Padre Staples Mall. The opening tenants in 1981 included Sears (which predated the mall by six years),Frost Brothers, Joske’s, and a pre-existing HEB(I’m pretty sure H-E-B did not open into the concourse). Many existing tenants at Padre Staples, such as Foot Locker and GNC, opened new locations at Sunrise rather than moving. The mall was popular at first, even starring in the 80s movie The Legend of Billie Jean(you can see the comparison here.

“But all that would slowly come to an end. Sunrise Mall’s upscale feel dropped off pretty quickly during the ‘80s. It became more discount oriented. Joske’s did not convert to Dillard’s, since there was already one at Padre Staples, so it closed was replaced with Montgomery Ward. Frost Brothers gave way to Burlington Coat Factory. H-E-B closed and became Stein Mart (which has an interior entrance, I’m pretty sure of). Mervyn’s was added as a sixth anchor. Still, over the period of the next decade, demographic shifts, the generally bad local economy, and competition from Padre Staples slowly squeezed the life out of Sunrise. Wards closed in December 2000. From what I can tell, Sunrise Mall’s prosperity (or what was left of it) went from bad to worse around 2004-2006. This was judging by the outdated mall directory that we’ll get to (it still had Mervyn’s).

“The mall was thoroughly uninviting. Partially obscured by uninviting parking garages, untamed shrubbery, and an outdated sign, it was surely to be a treat. Inside the mall, I was overjoyed as it had all the trademarks of a “dead mall”. Escalators shut off. Sections converted to office space. Wooden facades. Dead fronts. Nontraditional tenants. Neon. I love neon, it made me sad because it seemed like there used to be more neon in my local mall that disappeared over the years. There was a Montgomery Ward, which was still mostly intact. The directory, made somewhere between 2000 and 2006, showed that at one time, it was slightly better, but based on the bizarre things listed, like “Girls Rock” and other miscellany, it was obviously proceeding to the dark side.

“The food court was interesting. A dark corner of the mall, it almost was if the whole food court was subterranean. A Wendy’s was getting good business, but the majority of the food court tenants were dark. I didn’t pay attention, but there was a shell of a Chick-fil-A within those corridors. Other food court stands included one “Orange Creations” (guess what that used to be!) and “Anna Ice Cream & Deli”.

“What was more impressive, though, was the full-size sails. I liked them, they were a nice touch, but pretty depressing at the same time. There was also a dollar theater, but it was only four screens and the movies showing at the time were pretty sub-par at best.

“And that’s when we left. The mall is currently anchored by Burlington Coat Factory, Stein Mart, Sears, and a brand-new “HomeSource by Wilcox Furniture” in the former Wards store. However, not all is well. The mall faced foreclosure in April to be auctioned on May 6th but May 6th came and went without a buyer. Good, I suppose.

“I took these photos in summer 2007, actually before the Cherry Hill Mall pictures I took.”

Thanks for the submission, Jonah!   I also visited Sunrise Mall, in April 2007.  I found it and its more successful neighbor mall, Padre Staples Mall, to be a curious set.  Considering these two malls are the only two for Corpus Christi, the pair together don’t even really add up to what I’d expect in a market this size.  Padre Staples, Sunset’s more “successful” neighbor, was (as of 2007) pretty dated as well.  In fact, I’d even expect another mall to serve a different part of town, considering the population here. 

My pictures:

More of Jonah’s photos:

Mervyn’s, a large western chain of discount clothing/housewares retailers–very similar to Kohl’s, for those of you in other parts of the country–may well be the next major bankruptcy to hit American malls:

Mervyn’s LLC may be forced to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as early as this month if the California department-store chain fails to persuade its suppliers to ship products for the back-to-school season, according to a published report.

Some of Mervyn’s vendors have stopped shipping to the company, with its access to financing pulled by some key lenders, according to The Wall Street Journal. The company may be forced to shut its 177 stores in seven states, the paper said.

Discovery HD Theater Channel is currently running a piece called Mall Mania: American Style Shopping Goes Global, which highlights how the modern shopping mall evolved from its invention in the 1950s in the United States to spread across the world.  Each segment highlights a different country, most of which are in the developing world, and there is also a segment about how malls in America aren’t necessarily being constructed anew anymore but instead how the older ones are being reinvigorated,  highlighting Cherry Hill Mall, Mall of America, and Natick Collection.  It’s a really neat piece, especially if you have any interest in seeing how retailing has taken shape outside of North America, and how it relates to what we started. 

Recently, 338-year-old Canadian retail giant Hudson’s Bay Company, which operates numerous chain nameplates such as discounter Zellers and The Bay department stores, received a takeover bid from U.S. retailer Lord & Taylor.  Already a minor shareholder in Hudson’s Bay Company, Lord & Taylor wouldn’t be the first American company to own this brand; the company is already owned by American Anita Zucker, whose late husband, Jerry, gained control of the company in 2006. 

On July 16, the sale was complete, and Hudson’s Bay is now part of the Lord & Taylor fold.  Now that Lord & Taylor has a more impressive foothold in North America, what - if anything - do you think will happen to the Hudson’s Bay name?  Will it float off into the ether like other venerable brands have over the years - Marshall Field’s, Filene’s, McAlpin’s - just to name a few - or will Lord & Taylor realize the brand has enough equity to keep it afloat? 

I, personally, wouldn’t want to see the Hudson’s Bay name disappear across Canada, but what I think hasn’t stopped retailers from shifting and consolidating nameplates in the U.S.  I think many people are still miffed about what Macy’s did over the past few years, taking away many regional banners and creating a “unified” Macy’s across the entire United States.  Was it worth it for them?  Time will tell, but the very reasons they used for unifying their holdings have been sort of left by the wayside, with separate, more upscale Macy’s locations popping up in certain places and not others.  The issue is probably more weighty in some places rather than others, too; for example, Chicago’s affinity for Marshall Fields has probably cost Macy’s more money and loyalty than the regional banners in other areas, but who can be so sure?  Only time will tell.