COVID-19 Can’t Be Blamed For Everything: Sometimes, Retailers Just F^&%$ Up
Not to diminish COVID’s impact on retail, but it cannot be blamed for everything. Fry’s Electronics pointed to it as the chief reason for closing all 31 of its stores, at a time when Best Buy has been flying high as a result of a COVID-fueled boom in electronics and appliances. It calls to mind another iconic chain, Century 21, which shuttered all 13 of its stores last fall, citing the unwillingness of insurers to pay claims related to COVID-related business disruptions. I never quite bought that explanation, either: after all, few retailers have been able to cash in on such policies, plus C21 operated in the off-price space, where longer-term prospects remain robust. Not surprisingly, C21’s owners now say they will be returning (link below). I realize it is never going to happen, but sometimes I just wish that failed retailers would level with us and say something along the lines of, “oops, we f%#&% up, we opened too many stores and really, our competitors are just better at this than we are, so we’re shutting down, but we might reopen once we can get out of some leases and stiff our vendors, so stay tuned.”