Sometimes it is tough to say goodbye to the ones we love.
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Other times, we just can’t wait for them to hit the road and never come back.
Such is the case with many of the iconic brands and businesses that have been swept away by the worst economic downturn in a generation.
The list is long, and in some instances, remarkable. It’s impossible to catalogue all the closings. But here is a sampling of the lowlights.
Because banks were at the center of the economic storm, it’s not surprising the list starts there. So far, more than 60 banks have bitten the dust in 2009. This has kept the storm troopers at Sheila Bair’s FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.) working weekends and overtime to clean up the mess to protect at-risk depositors.
Georgia at the Bottom
Although failures like California’s IndyMac and Wamu garnered the biggest headlines, the state of Georgia has been the hardest hit with 15 bank failures this year. Atlanta-based Silverton Bank was the largest of the many forced closures in the peach state.
Normally, when the FDIC seizes an institution, it rebrands it so that another viable bank can step in. Silverton was so far upside down that the FDIC had no choice other than to auction its assets to the highest bidders.
Several major national and regional retailers have held their final close-outs during the past year. Emblematic of the downturn was the closure of technology retailer Circuit City, whose bankruptcy threw 30,000 techies out of work. This was great news for arch-rival Best Buy. But the lack of competition may ultimately be bad news for the consumer.
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Circuit City was not alone. Sharper Image, a mecca for high-end gadget junkies, filed for bankruptcy protection along with famed furniture retailers Levitz and Wickes. Couch potatoes have been loving it at Levitz since 1910. It looks like Swedish mega-retailer IKEA will be getting all the love now.
The recession also has forced a host of major retailers to pull in their horns. Starbucks, whose ambition is to put mocha-java in every cup, has closed 600 locations, hurling thousands of baristas back on the streets to look for a new caffeine fix.
Famous Names Flaming Out Fast
KB Toys shuttered 356 menageries, essentially ceding the playground to Toys R Us. Linens n’ Things sold its last dust ruffle as it abandoned brick-and-mortar operations in favor of internet thread count. Mall rat Foot Locker already has shut 140 locations and may jog into oblivion before the worst is over.
The downshift in the car market also has resulted in the significant narrowing of automotive choices. Between them, General Motors and Chrysler have eliminated thousands of individual dealers and retired several underselling brands.
While Chrysler execs are busy learning Italian, G.M. has bid adieu to Oldsmobile with Pontiac soon heading for the collector’s junk heap. If it weren’t for the heroics of racing legend Roger Penske, future Saturn sightings might have become the auto equivalent of UFOs.
American automakers are not the only ones looking for the exit. Japan’s Isuzu has heard it last gesundheit. Many analysts believe neither Mitsubishi nor Suzuki will be prowling the American byways after 2010.
DHL, a fierce competitor with FedEx and UPS for a slice of the once-booming overnight package business, has been grounded, resulting in 15,000 U.S. layoffs. The closure devastated Wilmington, Ohio, where the package carrier was the leading employer. Founded to deliver packages between San Francisco and Honolulu, DHL didn’t have the cash to weather the dropoff in deliveries resulting from the recession.
Hawaiian travelers said aloha to Aloha, as the fabled airline touched down for the last time in paradise. Bargain hunters were hit hard when Indianapolis-based ATA, formerly the nation’s 10th largest air carrier, was grounded in April. After showing another $220 million in losses yesterday, Texas-based Continental soon may have its wings clipped. Discount carrier Southwest seems to be the only survivor in the not-so-friendly skies. It now carries more passengers than any other American airline.
While the boom in internet news was putting the thumbscrews to many of the nation’s newspapers, the economic downturn stopped the presses for several regional dailies. Colorado said goodbye to its oldest broadsheet, the Rocky Mountain News, while Seattle had it last cup of coffee with the Post Intelligencer. With the dropoff in advertising, several major daily publications, like the Los Angeles Times and even The New York Times, are facing an uncertain future.
Every downturn exposes the weaklings in the economic food chain. But this time, the cumulative losses and closures will likely result in the most dramatic change to the face of the U.S. business scene since the Great Depression.
Six months from now, it’s anybody’s guess who will be left standing.
John Cohn is a senior partner in the Globe West Financial Group, based in West Los Angeles. He may be contacted at www.globewestfinancial.com
