HOUSTON -- When Houston-area stores file for bankruptcy, what happens to your gift cards?

It's a sign of the slowing economy -- big businesses filing for bankruptcy. Now consumers are being warned to get out those gift cards and use them or lose them.

Some viewers asked KPRC Local 2 investigative reporter Amy Davis if this really is the best advice. Davis did some checking to provide you with a bankruptcy shopping guide.

Vonda Venison forwarded Davis the e-mail she received from someone else. It lists seven stores it says has filed for bankruptcy and asks you to pass the word that gift cards from these stores will not be valid much longer. It urges readers to use them ASAP.

The stores listed are Hollywood Video, Levitz, Sharper Image, Performance Team Freight, Linens-N-Things, Circuit City and Bed, Bath & Beyond.

We confirmed only four of the stores in the e-mail have actually filed for bankruptcy. Those stores are Hollywood Video, Levitz, Sharper Image and Linens-N-Things. We'll focus on the bankruptcies that will affect you.

Sharper Image closed 96 stores, about half of its locations across the country. Only two stores in Houston are closed, the locations in Willowbrook and Memorial City.

There are still five stores remaining, but Sharper Image is looking for a buyer. For now they will accept your gift cards online or in the store, but your purchase must be double the value of the card. For example, if your gift card is $25, you can only use it if you buy $50 worth of merchandise.

Linens-N-Things filed for bankruptcy, but the entire chain is not going out of business.

It is closing 120 of its 600 stores. The only store on the chopping block in Houston is the store in West Oaks.

All other locations will continue to use coupons and gift cards, as usual.

Hollywood Video announced its closing 520 under-performing stores, but only six of those are in the Houston area. The stores closing include two on Westheimer Road, one on Memorial Drive, one on Fondren and one each in Sugar Land and Pearland. Any gift cards you have can be used at the remaining locations.

The last business on that list that filed for bankruptcy is Levitz Furniture. It filed in October, but all of Levitz's stores were mostly on the west coast.