Other Charges

Cost Savings Initiatives. During 2018, we began execution of multiple cost savings initiatives, including reductions in overhead and supply chain, resulting in pre-tax charges during the first quarter of 2019 consisting of $4.4 million in lease impairment charges, $3.0 million in severance and other payroll-related costs, $1.1 million in other miscellaneous shutdown costs, $0.2 million in disposal of fixed assets. Cost savings initiatives pre-tax charges during the first quarter of 2018 were $7.1 million in severance and other payroll-related costs, $1.9 million in legal and advisory fees, and $1.3 million in lease obligation costs.

Store Consolidation Plan. During the first quarter of 2019, we closed 28 Core U.S. stores, resulting in pre-tax charges of $0.5 million in lease impairment charges, $0.5 million in other miscellaneous shutdown costs, and $0.3 million in disposal of fixed assets. During the first quarter of 2018, we closed 61 Core U.S. stores and 8 locations in Mexico, resulting in pre-tax charges of $4.6 million, consisting of $3.6 million in lease obligation costs, $0.8 million in disposal of fixed assets, and $0.2 million in other miscellaneous shutdown costs.

Write-down of Capitalized Software. During the first quarter of 2018 we discontinued certain IT software projects and as a result incurred pre-tax charges of $1.9 million, related to the write-down of capitalized assets.

Activity with respect to other charges for the three months ended March 31, 2019 is summarized in the below table:



(in thousands)	Accrued Charges at December 31, 2018		Charges & Adjustments		Payments & Adjustments			Accrued Charges at March 31, 2019
Cash charges:
Labor reduction costs	$	7,623	$	3,122	$	(6,420	)	$	4,325
Lease obligation costs⁽¹⁾	4,882		—		(4,882		)	—
Other miscellaneous	—		1,609		(1,609		)	—
Total cash charges	$	12,505	4,731		$	(12,911	)	$	4,325
Non-cash charges:
Asset impairments⁽²⁾			5,309
Other⁽³⁾			23,330
Total other charges			$	33,370

⁽¹⁾ Upon adoption of ASU 2016-02, previously accrued lease obligation costs related to discontinued operations were eliminated and are now reflected as an adjustment to our operating lease right-of-use assets in our Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheet.

⁽²⁾ Includes impairments of operating lease right-of-use assets and other property assets related to the closure of RTO stores and our product service centers in the first quarter.

⁽³⁾ Other primarily includes the Blair class action settlement (refer to Note 11 for additional details), and incremental legal and professional fees related to the merger termination.