J W Robinson Co

The merger of May Department Stores with the owner of troubled J. W. Robinson Co. last October has gone "faster and smoother" than anticipated, a top May official told a group of financial analysts Tuesday. Jerome Loeb, vice chairman and chief financial officer, said that with the merger, St. Louis-based May is the largest department store company in the United States. Lawrence E. Honig, also a May vice chairman, knocked down rumors that some of the J. W.

In the face of one of the deepest retail-industry slumps in years, May Department Stores on Friday announced a 100-store, $4.6-billion expansion that includes plans for two new Robinsons-May stores in the Southland later this year. The plan, which also calls for the opening of 1,200 new Payless ShoeSource stores nationwide, will be one of the largest expansions in retail history.

J. W. Robinson Co. announced a $105-million plan Monday to open four new stores and remodel a fifth. The move was viewed as an attempt to revitalize the venerable chain, which was acquired in 1986 by May Department Stores. Robinson's also announced that it will close its money-losing store at Anaheim Plaza on Jan. 23. The store's 76 full-time employees will be offered jobs within the chain.

What Merger? It was the morning after Robinson's and May Co. merged into the new Robinsons-May chain. Evidence of the marriage, however, was hard to find when Mission Viejo Mall opened for business at 10 a.m. on Monday. Both Robinson's and May still had their old signs. There was a small placard outside Robinson's main entrance: "We're tying the knot . . . come celebrate with us . . . great things are in store for you." Shoppers were aware of the union.

Robinson's has an identity problem. The department store chain's big downtown location, once a handsome flagship with designs on being a mecca for downtown workers, looks like a clearance center. Yet the spiffy Beverly Hills store, befitting its location, sports attractive Ralph Lauren and Giorgio Armani boutiques. In Northridge, the newest addition to the chain comes off as a moderately priced store with upscale aspirations but numerous sale racks.

May Department Stores Co. said Friday that it will close 12 stores in the Southland, including four in Orange County, and merge the California May Co. and Robinson's department-store chains by the end of January. In a major cost-cutting move prompted by the flagging California economy, the company is creating a hybrid chain, melding the venerable Robinson's upscale style with May Co.'s orientation toward heavy promotions.

In a major cost-cutting move prompted by the flagging California economy, the May Department Stores Co. said Friday that it will close 12 stores in the Southland and merge the California May Co. and Robinson's department store chains by the end of January. The company is creating a hybrid chain, melding the venerable Robinson's upscale style with May Co.'s orientation toward heavy promotions.

You can tell a lot about a place by knowing a little about the people who started the best-known businesses there. The knowledge tells you, for instance, what it has taken to succeed and survive in the local economy. Although Southern California is sometimes accused of having a short memory about its past, not all its businesses have been flashes in the pan. In fact, it has no shortage of long-established, successful companies.

The blending of the Robinson's and May Co. department store chains will mean a bigger job for David P. Mullen, the president and chief executive of May Co. California who will take the top spot at the merged Robinsons-May stores next year. But for Robinson's President and Chief Executive Robert L. Mettler, who has become a fixture on the local retail and social scenes since his arrival five years ago, the future is a little less certain. Mettler and Kenneth L.

Robinson's said Wednesday that it plans to join May Co. California and Nordstrom as store anchors for the new Farmers Market Mall, a controversial retail development proposed for the Fairfax area of Los Angeles. The 150,000-square-foot store will be the first Robinson's to be located between downtown Los Angeles and Beverly Hills. It will be part of a $300-million retail, business and residential development that will include the landmark Farmers Market.

With mock wedding receptions at 57 stores, mostly in Southern California, the Robinson's and May Co. department store chains will take each other's names and officially combine Sunday. After losing an apostrophe and gaining a hyphen, the new Robinsons-May is hoping to save its parent company $15 million a year. At the same time, the subsidiary of St.

May Department Stores Co., whose Robinson's and May Co. chains have struggled against cutthroat competition and weak economy, is making a move that retail analysts say will buoy its position in Southern California. The plans announced Friday to merge the Robinson's and May Co. chains and close 12 department stores, analysts said, will slash expenses and clear up the muddled fashion and merchandise image that has plagued the Robinson's chain.

In a major cost-cutting move prompted by the flagging California economy, the May Department Stores Co. said Friday that it will close 12 stores in the Southland and merge the California May Co. and Robinson's department store chains by the end of January. The company is creating a hybrid chain, melding the venerable Robinson's upscale style with May Co.'s orientation toward heavy promotions.

The blending of the Robinson's and May Co. department store chains will mean a bigger job for David P. Mullen, the president and chief executive of May Co. California who will take the top spot at the merged Robinsons-May stores next year. But for Robinson's President and Chief Executive Robert L. Mettler, who has become a fixture on the local retail and social scenes since his arrival five years ago, the future is a little less certain. Mettler and Kenneth L.

The closing of 12 May Co. and Robinson's department stores in Southern California deals a new blow to some shopping mall operators who have seen their revenues slide as retailers struggle with the region's deep recession. "I don't know what our future will hold," said Nancy Feightner, manager of Westminster Mall in Westminster, which will lose a Robinson's and is still feeling the impact of losing a Buffum's last year. Other malls not facing closings confront another problem--customer confusion.

May Department Stores Co. said Friday that it will close 12 stores in the Southland, including four in Orange County, and merge the California May Co. and Robinson's department-store chains by the end of January. In a major cost-cutting move prompted by the flagging California economy, the company is creating a hybrid chain, melding the venerable Robinson's upscale style with May Co.'s orientation toward heavy promotions.

One man's freedom is another's marketing opportunity. Hyman Products Inc., a St. Louis distributor, has managed to secure 50 tons of material that formerly helped to make up the Berlin Wall. And Robinson's, a Los Angeles-based department store division of May Department Stores, is picking up some of the pieces.

Better Benefit: An item in this column last week reported that a new Robinson's department store at Brea Mall would open with a charity benefit next Thursday. Shoppers who buy a $5 admission ticket from one of many Orange County charitable groups can get in on the music, food and door prizes. But one of the best parts of the benefit was misreported.

Better Benefit: An item in this column last week reported that a new Robinson's department store at Brea Mall would open with a charity benefit next Thursday. Shoppers who buy a $5 admission ticket from one of many Orange County charitable groups can get in on the music, food and door prizes. But one of the best parts of the benefit was misreported.

Followed by security guards, about 50 animal rights activists marched through South Coast Plaza on Friday afternoon and presented Robinson's department store the head of a mink for being what one protester described as "the cruelist retailer of the year." During a short speech in the store's fur section, Ava Park, founder of Orange County People for Animals, conveyed the organization's award--the skin and head of a mink spattered with red paint--to a Robinson's manager.