Posted on 09/07/2005 12:17:53 PM PDT by BurbankKarl
CHICAGO, Sept 7 (Reuters) - Department store chain Mervyns, which Target Corp. (TGT.N: Quote, Profile, Research) sold to private equity firms last year, said on Wednesday it would close 25 percent of its stores and focus on the more profitable ones in the U.S. West and Southwest.
The retailer said 4,800 jobs would be lost, most of them part-time positions, and it would provide job placement and severance packages to those employees.
Mervyns plans to close 62 stores that it said were a drain on company profits while generating only 17 percent of total sales. By February, the company plans to get out of Michigan and Oklahoma, as well as parts of Colorado, Louisiana and Texas. It will also close three stores in the West, and two distribution centers.
Ping Willie...
I always wonder what makes stores in one region more successful than the same type of stores in others. Do we in SoCal shop for more or different stuff than somebody in Oklahoma, or what?
ping
We have people that wont step in a Wal Mart in CA.
Wal-Mart, Target, and Sears (along with Kohls) crushed Mervyn's here.
Mervyns was supposed to be a mid-scale offering sandwiched between Target and Dayton's (Marshall-Fields), but it never took off. I laughed when they renamed it Mervyns California, as if the addition of California to the name was supposed to affect its market appeal. In today's world, you'd better be top scale or a discounter because the middle is getting killed.
Oh darn, that's where I buy my underwear, jeans and pajamas most of the time.
Well, Macy's is mid-scale around here...Mervyn's is definitely perceived as low-end by the average buyer, and probably as too expensive by the low-end buyer. They do occupy an indefensible niche.
Mid-scale is perfect for me. I'm too classy for Wal-Mart, too trashy for Saks.
"I'm too classy for Wal-Mart, too trashy for Saks."
LOL! I work at one and shop at the other. Guess which is which. ;)
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