The Bay is not going anywhere. They have a strong leadership, solid finances and good year over year sales:
http://www.marketwatch.com/investing/stock/hbc/financials
They also own Lord & Taylor, Saks, Gilt.com among others.
Couldn't agree with you more about bad management and old thinking 'leadership' that sank the company.
That's the problem, people price shop an item and a B&M can never price itself under an on-line store; it simply has WAY more expenses to be able to compete. The problem is, retail is a HUGE contributor to the economy, both in terms of taxes and employment. Losses to both can be devastating to a city/region.
It's funny, because a store like Consumers Distributing was on to something all those years ago. Create a(n on-line catalogue) and you can come and pick up in store. All you need is 2-3 employees and minimal 'retail' space; much less overhead then a conventional retail store but at the same time people can still browse the products before buying them.
