COVID-19 has caused tons of disruptions all around the world. Lots of movie and book releases have been pushed back, finding items may take longer, and popping in to a store or restaurant has been discouraged or banned. Even though places are trying to get back to normal, for a lot of companies, their normal is going to be a ways off — or will never return. Here are some of the business who are undergoing a temporary or permanent shift that may affect how you shop.
JCPenney files for bankruptcy.
JCPenney is over 100 years old, but the chain — like so many other department stores — is struggling. They are planning to close almost 30% of their stores, and the first 154 have been announced.
JCPenney has stocked some anime- and game-related shirts in stores and online, and for a while there, they were even carrying some figures. I remember One Piece‘s Ace in particular. But perhaps the bigger issue is that many of their stores anchor malls, and to lose one of their biggest retailers means the other stores are going to suffer. That affects the Hot Topics, FYEs, and even some Barnes & Nobles. It’s unlikely all JCPenneys will close (they do have some interest), but it’s still a blow to mall lovers everywhere.
Funko layoffs become permanent.
Funko sales have dropped in recent months, even before the pandemic. While anime and game-related series like Pokémon, Naruto, and Dragon Ball have been among their leading properties, they are still having to do a lot of reshuffling and reorganizing. They temporarily laid off some employees back in April, but now they are making these cuts permanent. So about a quarter of their employees around the world will be let go. According to ICv2, Funko still has plenty of releases planned, but since they have been on a downward trend, they will likely need to evaluate their business.
GameStop sales fall.
The pandemic forced GameStop to close and switch to online only and curbside pickup, and this lead to their sales dropping by a third compared to the same time last year. They are also trying to delay their debt payments by offering to pay a higher interest rate on their notes. However, they are getting some good news in that both Microsoft and Sony have, so far, said their new gaming hardware won’t be delayed this holiday season. But if consoles end up limited do to supply chain interruptions, that may affect their expected sales bump. Still, it wouldn’t be surprising if more stores were forced to close. And what will happen in 2023 when the higher bonds come due?
FedEx and UPS add surcharge to packages.
These two carriers have announced they are adding an extra fee to their biggest customers. This usually happens around the holiday time, but due to the rising number of people shopping online, they are delivering more packages than normal. While this move is unlikely to be unnoticed to the average person, large business will either have to absorb the 30c per package (and about $30 on oversized shipments) or raise the cost of products and/or free shipping thresholds. Combine that with higher grocery prices and gas prices averaging about 20c higher than a month ago, it may cause more strain on household budgets. Which, of course, means less money on fun stuff like anime.
AMC Theatres worry about their future.
The biggest movie theater chain in the world has said they have “substantial doubt” they will be able to stay in business. It’s not just the fact that theaters have been closed and movie releases been pushed back to later in the summer or even further down the calendar. Companies like Universal have realized the profitability of putting movies available for paid streaming, as was done with Trolls World Tour and SCOOB!. Trolls World Tour was so successful that Universal wants to continue to release films both in theaters and paid on-demand. AMC responded to this by banning Universal movies from playing at their theaters, and they said they would do the same for any other company that wants to pursue this dual-release model.
AMC has featured anime-related movies like the Studio Ghibli line and My Hero Academia: Two Heroes in various events and promotions (not to mention anime/game-inspired Hollywood releases like Pokémon Detective Pikachu and Sonic the Hedgehog), and if this chain goes down, that’s going to be a huge blow to the film industry and may leave many cities with limited or no options to have a movie night out.