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Ailing department store chain Mervyns LLC, which had been operating for almost five decades, has become the latest merchant headed for extinction. The retailer, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in July, said Friday that it plans to begin liquidation sales at its remaining 149 stores and wind down its business. The Hayward, Calif.-based chain said liquidation sales during the holiday season were the best way to maximize value for the company's creditors after exhausting all its options, including the sale of the company. It also cited a fierce retail environment and declining liquidity as factors forcing the company's...

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...

The bottom line is, there will be less choice for the consumer with the same merchandise being offered at all stores. It's the MacDonaldization of retailing. Where consistency trumps quality and selection, and low prices trumps service and a knowledgeable staff. There will be less variety in clothing since there will be fewer buyers making the choices. As a kid, I can recall when going downtown to shop used to be a special outing, almost an entertainment event. People actually used to get all dressed up to go "to the stores," believe it or not. Well-dressed ladies would lunch in...

Mervyn's Reverses Ban on Salvation Army Bell Ringers     12/6/2004 By Martha Kleder "Mervyn's is now able to act like the reformed Scrooge," says CWA's Knight. The struggle between retailers' no-solicitation policy and the Salvation Army's annual kettle drive has taken a Dickens-like twist, as Mervyn's Department Store chain announced the reversal of its bell ringer ban. "Mervyn's is pleased to announce we are making an exception to our no-solicitation policy and we immediately welcome the Salvation Army and its annual holiday bell ringer program to all our stores," wrote Greg Terk, Mervyn's spokesman in a December 2, 2004, media statement. "As...

Bells will be ringing at Mervyn's department stores this holiday season after all, store officials announced Thursday in a sudden reversal of a ban on Salvation Army collection kettles. Mervyn's officials say they did not know how important their stores were to the Salvation Army's fund-raising effort when they decided last month to bar the charity's bell ringers from their storefronts. Some shoppers, apparently, were so offended by the action -- Target stores also have barred kettle collections -- that they called this week for a boycott of the national-chain stores. "We didn't fully realize the implications this would have,"...

The Salvation Army has received an outpouring of support after reports that two major department store chains -- Target and Mervyn's -- had banned the charity's holiday bell ringers from collecting donations in front of their stores, a spokeswoman said Wednesday. The Salvation Army's office in San Francisco received scores of calls from people who said they were shocked by the chains' decision to boot the little red kettles off their property after years of permitting the collections. Some callers said they were writing letters to the corporations; others promised to boycott the stores. "People are saying they are saddened...