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Beware of The Store Gift Card For Christmas

Nothing ticks me off more than a gift card that deducts charges from the face value of the card


  1. If you use it

  2. If you don't

Either way, the store is cheating you and the person that bought you the gift card out of it's full value. This year we have something new to worry about.


For the first time in my life you have to be careful about buying a gift card (in the old days "gift certificates") for a particular store for Christmas gifts, because they may not be in business after Christmas. I first heard about this at a point where it actually registered in my brain, on the CBS news a couple of weeks ago. I hadn't really thought about it much except when I ran across the Mervyn's gift card in my purse that I have from 2 years ago. (They're going completely out of business after Christmas, in case you haven't heard).


Then as I was doing a little research found out you actually become a "creditor" of the store when they file bankruptcy because a gift card is a "loan". So you could file with the bankruptcy court to get your money back, but more often then not, those cases don't get paid because gift card holders are at the very bottom of what's usually a long list.


So if you were thinking about buying someone a gift card for Christmas, you may want to check and see how strong they are. Retailers are dropping like flies and if they don't make good Christmas numbers, you may see a lot more go under after Christmas.


Below is a partial list of stores that you need to be cautious about.


Circuit City (filed Chapter 11) Ann Taylor- 117 stores nationwide closing Lane Bryant, Fashion Bug , Catherine's to close 150 stores nationwide Eddie Bauer to close stores 27 stores and more after January Cache will close all stores Talbots closing down specialty stores J. Jill closing all stores (owned by Talbots) Pacific Sunwear (also owned by Talbots) GAP closing 85 stores Footlocker closing 140 stores more to close after January Wicks Furniture closing down Levitz closing down remaining stores Bombay closing remaining stores Zales closing down 82 stores and 105 after January Whitehall closing all stores Piercing Pagoda closing all stores Disney closing 98 stores and will close more after January Home Depot closing 15 stores, Macys to close 9 stores after January Linens and Things closing all stores Movie Galley Closing all stores Pep Boys Closing 33 stores Sprint/Nextel closing 133 stores JC Penney closing a number of stores after January Ethan Allen closing down 12 stores. Wilson Leather closing down all stores Sharper Image closing down remaining stores K B Toys closing 356 stores Lowe's to close down some stores Dillard's to close some stores Steve & Barry’s Bennigan’s Grill & Tavern


If you like to be able to shop by gift card, here is one company that is not going under. You can give a small dept. store to someone right in their home. Just click here now to get rid of all that holiday shopping stress. If you are looking for ideas, take a look at this gift guide here.

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This Time of Year Strikes Terror In the Hearts of Men

What is it that triggers the "Christmas Shopper Terror" in you? For me it's when I realize Halloween is only a few weeks away and I know once we get there, the next 4 months are just stress, a flurry of activity, then it's the New Year and we're looking at it all like a dream that lasts only a moment.

Here in my part of California it always gets dark early and rains in September. Somehow there is at least one rainy night that I'm out in it. It almost always rains for Christmas (we don't get snow) and a few days before. Even tho I have most of my shopping done (thank you Ribbon) I usually end up going out for stocking stuffers or something just a couple of days before Christmas. The feeling I get in Sept. when I'm out at night in the rain is the exact same feeling I get when I'm out doing last minute Christmas shopping at night in the rain. It's the rainy night in September that fills me with the feelings of those few days before Christmas, and that's when it hits me. The race is about to begin and the next 3 months will be the fastest of my life.

We get through Halloween pretty easy because we're in an "incorporated" area, and our side of the street has no sidewalks, not many street lights, and our house has a security light that only goes on if someone steps in the yard. Not a very inviting house on Halloween, so we don't get any kids. It's funny, most people in our neighborhood think I'm scary every day, I can't imagine why they don't show up on Halloween when that should be a "good" thing. LOL.

Now we're on our way to Thanksgiving. I bought the turkey yesterday. I'm thinking I really need to find time to clear off my dining room table so we can actually eat on it. I know that if I blink between Thanksgiving and Christmas, Christmas will be here and gone all too soon. I'm finally old enough to truly appreciate Christmas for what it's supposed to be, so I hate the fact that it's here and gone so fast. Altho I'm not as gift-oriented as I was when I was younger, my children have not taken over that perspective. LOL.

If you don't like fighting the crowds, wasting time looking for parking, never sure if you got the right gift, having to figure out what the right gift is, you might want to take a look at this. Ribbon, the Gift of Choice is the perfect answer, especially now when they're saying you can't buy gift cards to certain stores because they may file bankruptcy tomorrow. Sharper Image went under with a ton of people holding gift cards that weren't worth anything. If the above describes you, take a look here now. There's a couple you can get 5 for the price of 4, and many qualify for free shipping.

How do you feel about the holidays? (be gentle please)

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