Apr 9, 2008

Retailers’ Struggles Mean Lean Times at the MallBy Kris HudsonOnline.WSJ.com

Weak consumer spending is pushing struggling retailers close to or over the edge, and that is starting to hurt shopping-mall owners.

The latest retail casualty is Linens ‘n Things Inc., a 500-store home-accessory chain, which is considering filing for bankruptcy-court protection as soon as this week. The chain, which went private in a leveraged buyout two years ago, is running short of cash, and its vendors have stopped shipping products, said two people familiar with the company.

For shopping-mall owners, it is a rude awakening from the boom times of the past few years, when consumers borrowed to furnish new homes. While vacancies should remain low, the slowdown means weaker rent growth for all mall owners and serious pain for the most heavily indebted landlords.

Stock investors are dismissing the weakness, driving up shares of retail-property owners 7.7% this year, though the sector fell 19.6% last year.

The list of weak retailers is growing by the day, including furniture seller Domain Inc., high-end jeweler Fortunoff Inc. and electronics merchant Sharper Image Corp., all of which have sought bankruptcy protection since January.

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