Some major retailers like Steve and Barry’s and Circuit City are closing a number of store locations.

Senior health major Sony Philip said he thinks the economic situation has to do with stores closing.

“I assume that stores are closing because of the situation in our economy,” Philip said. “People have to cut back on their spending, which seems to be a reason for this. I don’t spend as much as I used to because I have to worry about rising prices for everything else.”

According to a Nov. 3 Circuit City press release, they are closing 14 stores in Illinois and 155 stores nationwide.

Steve and Barry’s also announced, in a Sept. 16 press release, they were closing 103 stores, including DeKalb’s.

Kyle Montgomery, store director of the DeKalb Steve and Barry’s, 2500 Sycamore Road, said customers are sad to see the store go.

“The whole community was shocked and upset to learn we were going out of business,” he said.

Montgomery said the DeKalb store is supposed to officially close Friday, but might get an extension to be open until Sunday.

Associate economics professor Carl Campbell said job losses cause less shopping.

“Lots of people are losing their jobs or afraid of losing their jobs,” Campbell said, “which discourages them from spending their money.”

Campbell said this lack of spending is the reason companies close some stores.

“Stores aren’t able to sell as much with a lack of consumer spending forcing them to close stores,” he said.

Junior art major Jonathan Collette said stores closing is both positive and negative.

“It’s a good thing because these companies are responding wisely to the change in the economy,” Collette said. “But at the same time, it’s bad when you got people losing their jobs.”

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