YOUTH
MINISTRY
Columbia High grad Zion Moore will open for R&B sensation Silk’s March 28 performance at Cobb Energy Center. 5
A new radio talk show, “Beneath the Surface with Lillie Shaw,” is already filling the airwaves with meaningful discussions. 6
Silky smooth opening
Airtime for relevant issues
Let’s Keep DeKalb Peachy Clean Please Don’t Litter Our Streets and Highways
EAST ATLANTA • DECATUR • STONE MOUNTAIN • LITHONIA • AVONDALE ESTATES • CLARKSTON • ELLENWOOD • PINE LAKE • REDAN • SCOTTDALE • TUCKER • STONECREST
Copyright © 2018 CrossRoadsNews, Inc.
January 27, 2018
Volume 23, Number 39
www.crossroadsnews.com
Sam’s Club closing raises boycott threats, legality questions By Lyle V. Harris
The abrupt closure of the Sam’s Club in Stonecrest is prompting calls for a boycott of the retail chain by South DeKalb customers and raising questions about whether the company possibly violated federal law. DeKalb Commissioner Greg Adams told a crowd of about 150 people at a Jan. 22 town hall meeting at Lou Walker Senior Center that he is ready to take a stand. “I will not be shopping [at Sam’s Club] any longer because we need to send them a strong message,” he said to applause. Stonecrest resident Faye Coffield agreed. “We keep begging stores like Kmart
outlets nationwide would be going dark. Walmart officials claim the Stonecrest location was “underperforming” and failed to meet sales goals, but declined to offer specifics. A smaller Walmart Neighborhood Market store at Panola Road and Covington Highway is also going out of business after only four years on Jan. 30. It announced its intention on Jan. 5. But was the Sam’s Club closing done legally? CrossRoadsNews has asked the company whether its decision fully complied with the federal Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act – known as WARN.
The WARN law, passed by Congress in 1988, requires companies with 100 or more employees, which would include the South DeKalb Sam’s Club, to give 60-day notice of closure. and Walmart and they keep leaving us with nothing,” she said. “The bottom line is to get into their pockets. We have to let them know we have a voice.” The town hall meeting was organized by DeKalb District 5 Commissioner Mereda Davis Johnson following Sam’s Mereda D. Johnson
Club’s abrupt closure on Jan. 11 after more than a decade at that location. Since then, once loyal and longtime customers have been expressing outrage by cancelling their paid memberships and threatening a boycott. Neither customers nor the store’s nearly 200 employees were given prior notice that the store would be closing as part of a larger corporate shakeup. Walmart Stores Inc., which is Sam’s Club’s parent company, announced Jan. 11 that 63 of its popular big-box Please see SAM’S CLUB, page 2
Stonecrest Babies’R’Us among 182 to close Store closing trend reflects change in retail landscape
The 32,000square-foot Babys”R”Us, which opened in the Stonecrest MarketPlace in March 2010, is scheduled to close in the spring.
By Jennifer Ffrench Parker
The Stonecrest Babies“R”Us store is closing. It is among eight in Georgia, one of two in DeKalb County, and among 182 Toys“R”Us and Babies“R”Us stores nationwide that the children’s retailer is closing this spring. In a 106-page motion filed in bankruptcy court on Jan. 23, Toys“R”Us said it has “faced a challenging commercial environment exacerbated by increased competition from traditional competitors and a shift in consumer preferences away from shopping at brick and mortar stores to online retail channels.” “These factors have left the debtors with a significant number of stores operating at sub-optimal performance levels,” it said. The 32,000-square-foot store in the Stonecrest MarketPlace, at 8160 Mall Parkway, is the latest retailer in Stonecrest to announce its departure. Sam’s Club closed abruptly on Jan. 11. The Walmart Neighborhood Market at Covington Highway and Panola Road is closing on Jan. 30. The Sears at the Mall at Stonecrest is also closing Jan. 30. Stonecrest Councilman Jimmy Clanton Jr., who represents District 1, home to three of the stores closing, said the departures have more to do with the reshaping of the retail landscape than Jimmy Clanton being city-specific. “What is hurtful is that it’s in our backyard,” he said. “As a city, this is not the end of our story. It’s an opportunity for additional growth.” Clanton said that while the city will be working to make sure that these vacant buildings don’t become blighted, residents
Sharif Ffrench-Williams / CrossRoadsNews
need to shop local. “This is not a reflection of our sales habit and as long as we continue to shop in our city and take care of the businesses in our community, more businesses will come,” he said. Toys“R”Us, which has about 880 U.S. stores and 1,600 worldwide, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in September. Dave Brandon, Toys“R”Us chairman and CEO, said in a letter posted on the company’s website that the reinvention of the company’s brands requires that “we make tough decisions about our priorities and focus.” He said the store closures come after a top-to-bottom assessment of their business. “We also intend to convert a number of locations into co-branded Toys“R”Us and Babies“R”Us stores,” he said. “The actions
we are taking are necessary to give us the best chance to emerge from our bankruptcy proceedings as a more viable and competitive company that will provide the level of service and experience you should expect from a market leader.” The company also operates a 50,000square-foot Toys“R”Us store in the Turner Hill MarketPlace at 2940 Turner Hill Road. Kevin Donegan of RCG Ventures, which operates the shopping center, said Wednesday that store is staying open. “They are not closing us,” he said. “It’s not the one on the list.” The Stonecrest Babies“R”Us, which opened in March 2010, is one of seven anchors in the 264,609-square-foot Stonecrest MarketPlace shopping center overlooking the Mall at Stonecrest. Other tenants in the center, owned by Colliers International,
include Staples, Petco, Big Lots, DSW, Ross and Marshalls. The three other Babies“R”Us and four Toys“R”Us closing in Georgia are: n Babies“R”Us, 1155 Mt. Vernon Highway, Dunwoody. n Babies“R”Us, 6380 North Point Parkway, Alpharetta. n Babies“R”Us, 6875 Douglas Blvd., Douglasville. n Toys“R”Us, 221 Newnan Crossing Bypass, Newnan, n Toys“R”Us, 132 Pavilion Parkway, Fayetteville. n Toys “R”Us, 2955 Cobb Parkway, Smyrna. n Toys“R”Us, 2601 Dawson Road, Albany. Going-out-of-business sales are scheduled to begin in February and be completed in April.