WSJ reports drained by the worst consumer-spending slump in decades and burdened by debt, U.S. retailers are expected to begin a wave of post-holiday bankruptcy filings, altering the landscape at malls and on main streets across the country. Retailers are particularly vulnerable in the current downturn after a decade of buoyant consumer spending, which encouraged them to overexpand and overborrow. Now, the banks and private investors who financed the boom are pulling back. Several of the industry's biggest lenders, including General Electric's GE Capital, CIT Group and Wachovia, are tightening lending terms and reducing exposure to retailers. Their tougher terms are making it harder for retailers to find capital to reorganize under bankruptcy-court protection, as they were able to do in the past, meaning there are likely to be more liquidations... "A lot of retailers survived through the holiday season because they built up their inventories in the summer before anyone, like their vendors, knew it would be this bad. But now you will see a lot of filings," said Michael Henkin, managing director and co-head of the restructuring group at investment bank Jefferies. Loehmann's, Duane Reade, Bon-Ton Stores (BONT) and Claire's Stores, however, dismissed any suggestion they might be at risk.
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