Be aware of who you buy gift cards from this Christmas season!

[CBCyclone]

I got this e-mail from a friend and thought I'd post it here as a favor to my fellow BOTLs so no one gets the shaft this holiday season:

As the economy continues its downward spiral, a number of retail store chains are planning to close stores in January as cost cutting measures, and in some cases the chain itself is going out of business in January.

The trouble is that the companies are STILL selling gift cards for their stores through the holidays, even though the cards will be worthless in January when the store close. There is no law currently on the books preventing them from doing this. On the contrary, it is referred to as 'Bankruptcy Planning."

Below is a partial list of stores that you need to be cautious about buy gift cards from this holiday season:

Circuit City (filed Chapter 11)

Ann Taylor 117 stores nationwide closing in January

Lane Bryant, Fashion Bug, and Catherine's to close 150 stores nationwide in January

Eddie Bauer to close stores 27 stores in January and more after January

Cache will close all stores in January

Talbots closing down specialty stores in January

J. Jill closing all stores (owned by Talbots) Pacific Sunwear (also
owned by Talbots) in January

GAP closing 85 stores in January

Footlocker closing 140 stores in January more to close after January

Wickes Furniture closing down in January

Levitz closing down remaining stores in January

Bombay closing remaining stores in January

Zales closing down 82 store in January and 105 after January

Whitehall closing all stores in January

Piercing Pagoda closing all stores in January

Disney closing 98 stores in January and will close more after January.

Home Depot closing 15 stores in January

Macys to close 9 stores after January

Linens and Things closing all stores in January

Movie Galley Closing all stores in January

Pep Boys Closing 33 stores in January

Sprint/Nextel closing 133 stores in January

JC Penney closing a number of stores after January

Ethan Allen closing down 12 stores in January

Wilson Leather closing down all stores in January

Sharper Image closing down all stores in January

K B Toys closing 356 stores in January

Loews to close down some stores in January

Dillard's to close some stores in January

[ngetal]

any time you get emails from well-meaning friends which may or may not show the signs of having been forwarded numerous times, it's always a good idea to check the information against "urban legends" websites such as snopes.com - in most cases, you'll find that the forwarded message is yet another resurrection of a long-disproved chain email.

here's the link for this one... - it's one of the rare ones that seems to have partial truths, but in my opinion is just inaccurate enough to get people to panic and forward it to all their friends

but thanks for looking out for us

[tx_tuff]

If anybody is planing to get gift cards and are worried keep in mind that many local banks have Master Card and Visa gift cards. Also American Express has a gift card. I believe most of them work the same as a credit card, they just have a set amount.