Belk gets new logo

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Charlotte-based Belk is looking to update its 122-year-old image.

The News & Observer of Raleigh reported Sunday that the iconic Southern department store chain will spend about $70 million to change its logo to a more modern look and rebrand itself. Belk last changed its script logo 43 years ago.

The new logo will be all lowercase letters. The first wave of about 60 stores to get the new signs will be in larger cities of Atlanta, Birmingham, Charlotte and Raleigh. The rest of the company's 300 stores get the signs over the next year.

My 2009 in Photos

January - Barack Obama is the 44th President of the United States.


February - IKEA comes to Charlotte.


March - Only in New York


April - Brutalism can be cool...


May - ...so can paying too much for dinner.


June - An American pastime...


July - ...and a family tradition.


August - Beauty's where you find it...


September - ...often finding it by accident.


October - Icons of rock...


November - ...icon of retail.


December - With a dramatic finish.

Happy New Year, Y'all!

Holidays on Display

The main aisle of Marshall Field & Co., Chicago, circa 1955. (National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution)

Holidays on Display examines the art, industry, and history of holiday display across the United States. Focusing on parading culture and department store retail display, primarily between the 1920s and 1960s, when holiday displays were considered commercial endeavors equally rewarding for the American public, the exhibition showcases numerous photographs, postcards and rendering illustration of parade floats and window displays—including the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade and Marshall Field & Company Christmas windows—as well as objects relating to the early creation of these displays.

“Holidays on Display” will be on view at the National Museum of American History through November 2010

Link to Smithsonian Institution
Online Exhibition
Press Realease
Asked and Answered | Holidays on Display

Nordstrom Rack to open first N.C. store in Durham

Seattle-based Nordstrom, Inc. announced plans to open its first Nordstrom Rack in North Carolina. The new 33,000-square-foot store will be located at Renaissance Center in Durham. The store is expected to open in fall 2010.

The center is located across the street from Nordstrom’s full-line store at The Streets at Southpoint, which opened seven years ago.

JCPenney to stop publishing 'big book' catalogs

PLANO, Texas (AP) — J.C. Penney will stop publishing its twice-yearly "big book" catalogs, now that customers increasingly shop online.

Instead, J.C. Penney Co. says it will publish specialty catalogs and focus its efforts online, on the Web site jcp.com and on social networks. In part, the company says it is responding to consumer habits to view catalogs more as "look books."

The Plano, Texas, company will continue to publish its Christmas catalog and others, such as the "Little Red Book" for women's apparel and "Matters of Style" for men.

Eliminating the hefty twice-a-year catalogs will cut the company's paper use by 25 percent to 30 percent in 2010.

on the closing of Waldenbooks and B. Dalton Bookseller

One of the joys of my childhood was going to Tanglewood Mall on a Saturday afternoon and checking out what was new at Waldenbooks and B. Dalton Bookseller. It’s hard to remember in a post-superstore and internet world how good these stores were, but they actually were decent stores with good selections in their heyday. They were at least as good as a typical Barnes & Noble and Borders, just smaller and lacking the chairs and coffee.

IMO what killed them was the shifting of corporate focus by their parent companies. After Barnes & Noble and Borders took of in the ’90s, both B. Dalton and Waldenbooks became de-facto outlets for their corporate families and started filling the fronts of their stores with worthless bargain book sections: poorly conceived clearance aisles filled with low quality books that should never have been published in the first place. The over-abundance of loss leaders shrunk the traditional book selections to a shadow of their former selves and ruined the two chains’ reputations as sources for quality books.

Even though Barnes & Noble corporate eventually saw the light and integrated the Barnes & Noble search and order capabilities into their B.Dalton mall stores, Borders corporate steadfastly refused to bring Waldenbooks in line with Borders search and order capabilities until Waldenbooks got so small they couldn’t support their own system.

It doesn’t take a retail genius to figure out that the companies were de-emphasizing the mall stores in favor of a larger, more profitable format and that the reduced selection of a modern Waldenbooks and B.Dalton would eventually make they easy to dispose of if the mall business never recovered (and it hasn’t so far).

It’s sad to think of how many small and medium sized cities will now have no new general-interest bookstore thanks to B. Dalton and Waldenbooks’ closures. Danville, Va. and Bluefield, W.Va. immediately come to mind: somewhat isolated cities that don’t have enough college-educated customers to be considered for a book superstore but yet have enough population to support one. Cities like these will be solely at the mercy of Walmart and the like, which only stock books they figure will sell to a mainstream audience and little else.

This is an embarrassing and depressing situation. Why should people in typically sized American cites have to travel 60 miles or more just to buy a non-New York Times bestseller book in person? I just hope that a company like Books-A-Million will step up and bring some essential choice and selection back to these towns.

Playing to the Middle

By CINTRA WILSON

Published: August 13, 2009

J.C. Penney has broken free of its suburban parking area to invade Herald Square, and the most frequent question on New York’s collective lips seems to be: Why? (read more)

The new JCPenney at the Manhattan Mall in New York (former home to Gimbels, Stern's and A&S) is open and flourishing in an otherwise dismal retail market. What better way to celebrate its arrival and success by sending the New York Times fashion reporter Cintra Wilson into the store for a review. Ms. Wilson gives the store enough backhanded compliments and outright insults that's almost a parody of a serious article, even for the Fashion & Style section.

Consider this excerpt:

J. C. Penney has always trafficked in knockoffs that aren’t quite up to Canal Street’s illegal standards. It was never “get the look for less” so much as “get something vaguely shaped like the designer thing you want, but cut much more conservatively, made in all-petroleum materials, and with a too-similar wannabe logo that announces your inferiority to evil classmates as surely as if you were cursed to be followed around by a tuba section.”

Just like all good clichés, this hackneyed statement is partly based in truth, but not so much that no one would be able say it definitively. Penney’s is no runway show, but its offerings are no worse than those of Target, Kohl's or even most of the private label merchandise at Macy's.

Considering the questionable (and largely overpriced even at a discount) merchandise that passes for fashion in the dozens of off-price store that cover Manhattan, JCPenney seems like a measure of clarity. At least what you want is likely in your size.

You also have to consider that every other large scale retailer that has been in this mall since the fall of Gimbels has tanked. Stern's, for all of its history as the "Show Biz Store," looked more like a bad infomercial when they were there. Steve & Barry's was even worse, stretching its bland wares into an oversized space that was doomed to fail. Don't get me started on the perpetually lackluster specialty stores in this mall. JCPenney is a strong enough name that it could be a serious contender with the right amount of traffic.

UPDATE: Apparently neither the public or Ms. Wilson's bosses liked the article very much.
The Insult Was Extra Large
NYTimes Issues Apology For Cintra Wilson Article

WSJ - Bagging Holiday Shoppers (featuring someone you know)

An excerpt from WSJ.com - Bagging Holiday Shoppers:

In a few weeks, Steven Swain will make his annual pilgrimage to New York from Rocky Mount, Va., to visit the Christmas tree in Rockefeller Center and see the holiday window displays at Macy's, Saks Fifth Avenue and Barneys New York.

You may have heard of this fellow....

Boscov's seeks bankruptcy protection

READING, Pa. (AP) - The troubled department store chain Boscov's is filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

The Reading, Pa.-based chain also will close 10 stores. It otherwise will continue to operate without interruption during the reorganization.

The retailer, America's largest family-owned independent department store, says filing for Chapter 11 protection gives it the tools and time to strengthen its balance sheet.

Boscov's has stores in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware and Virginia. It is closing five stores in Pennsylvania, three stores in Maryland, one in New Jersey and one in Virginia.

The company recently acknowledged that some suppliers have stopped shipping merchandise to the company. Boscov's blamed credit issues.

Newbury Street icon Louis seeks someplace trendier

Louis Boston, a fixture on Newbury Street (in Boston) that helped usher luxury retail into the city, will move out of its historic building when its lease expires in 2010, opening up the marquee 40,000 square foot space for the first time in 20 years. (more)

Legendary designer Yves Saint Laurent dies at 71

By ELAINE GANLEY

PARIS (AP) — Legendary designer Yves Saint Laurent, who reworked the rules of fashion by putting women into elegant pantsuits that came to define how modern women dressed, died Sunday evening, a longtime friend and associate said. He was 71.

Pierre Berge said Saint Laurent died at his Paris home following a long illness.

A towering figure of 20th century fashion, Saint Laurent was widely considered the last of a generation that included Christian Dior and Coco Chanel and made Paris the fashion capital of the world, with the Rive Gauche, or Left Bank, as its elegant headquarters.

In the fast-changing world of haute couture, Saint Laurent was hailed as the most influential and enduring designer of his time. From the first YSL tuxedo and his trim pantsuits to see-through blouses, safari jackets and glamorous gowns, Saint Laurent created instant classics that remain stylish decades later.

When the designer announced his retirement in 2002 at age 65 and the closure of the Paris-based haute couture house he had founded 40 years earlier, it was mourned in the fashion world as the end of an era. His ready-to-wear label, Rive Gauche, which was sold to Gucci in 1999, still has boutiques around the world.

In October 2006, Saint Laurent slipped and fell outside a Paris restaurant during Fashion Week, suffering slight scratches but reminding fans of the perennially fragile designer's advancing age.

Saint Laurent was born Aug. 1, 1936, in Oran, Algeria, where his father worked as a shipping executive. He first emerged as a promising designer at the age of 17, winning first prize in a contest sponsored by the International Wool Secretariat for a cocktail dress design.

A year later in 1954, he enrolled at the Chambre Syndicale school of haute couture, but student life lasted only three months. He was introduced to Christian Dior, then regarded as the greatest creator of his day, and Dior was so impressed with Saint Laurent's talent that he hired him on the spot.

When Dior died suddenly in 1957, Saint Laurent was named head of the House of Dior at the age of 21. The next year, his first solo collection for Dior — the "trapeze" line — launched Saint Laurent's stardom. The trapeze dress — with its narrow shoulders and wide, swinging skirt — was a hit, and a breath of fresh air after years of constructed clothing, tight waists and girdles.

In 1960, Saint Laurent was drafted into military service — an experience that shattered the delicate designer, who by the end of the year was given a medical discharge for nervous depression.

Bouts of depression marked his career. Berge, the designer's longtime business partner and former romantic partner, was quoted as saying that Saint Laurent was born with a nervous breakdown.

Saint Laurent returned to the spotlight in 1962, opening his own haute couture fashion house with Berge. The pair later started a chain of Rive Gauche ready-to-wear boutiques.

Life Magazine hailed his first line under his own label as "the best collection of suits since Chanel."

Berge has said that Saint Laurent's gift to fashion was that he empowered women after Chanel had freed them.

Nowhere was Saint Laurent's gift more evident than the valedictory fashion show that marked his retirement in January 2002.

Forty years of fashion were paraded in a 300-piece retrospective that blurred the boundaries of time, mixing his creations of yesterday and today in one stunning tribute to the endurance of Saint Laurent's style. He also designed costumes for theater and film.

There was the simple navy blue pea coat over white pants, which the designer first showed in 1962 when he opened his couture house and kept as one of his hallmarks.

His "smoking," or tuxedo jacket, of 1966 remade the tux as a high fashion statement for both sexes. It remained the designer's trademark item and was updated yearly until he retired.

Also from the 60s came Beatnik chic — a black leather jacket and knit turtleneck with high boots — and sleek pantsuits that underlined Saint Laurent's statement on equality of the sexes. He showed that women could wear "men's clothes," which when tailored to the female form became an emblem of elegant femininity.

"More than any other designer since Chanel, YSL represented Paris as the style leader," The Independent of London wrote in an editorial after Saint Laurent's retirement. "By putting a woman in a man's tuxedo, he changed fashion forever, in a style that never dated."

In his own words, Saint Laurent said he felt "fashion was not only supposed to make women beautiful, but to reassure them, to give them confidence, to allow them to come to terms with themselves."

Some of his revolutionary style was met with resistance. There are famous stories of women wearing Saint Laurent pantsuits who were turned away from hotels and restaurants in London and New York.

One scandal centered on the designer himself, when he posed nude and floppy-haired for a photographer in 1971, wearing only his trademark thick black glasses, to promote his perfume.

Saint Laurent's rising star was eternalized in 1983, when the Metropolitan Museum of Art devoted a show to his work, the first ever to a living designer.

Subsequent shows at the Hermitage in St. Petersburg and in Beijing made him a French national treasure, and he was awarded the Legion d'Honneur in 1985.

When France basked in the glory of its 1998 World Cup soccer final, it was Saint Laurent who took center field pre-kick off with an on-field retrospective at the Stade de France.

In 1999, Saint Laurent sold the rights of his label to Gucci Group NV, ceding control of his Rive Gauche collection, fragrances, cosmetics and accessories for US$70 million cash and royalties.

Industry insiders cited friction between Saint Laurent and Gucci's creative director, Tom Ford, as a likely factor in the fashion guru's decision to retire three years later. Ford stepped down in 2003.

When he bowed out of fashion in 2002, Saint Laurent spoke of his battles with depression, drugs and loneliness, though he gave no indication that those problems were directly tied to his decision to stop working.

"I've known fear and terrible solitude," he said. "Tranquilizers and drugs, those phony friends. The prison of depression and hospitals. I've emerged from all this, dazzled but sober."

Associated Press writers Rachid Aouli and Joelle Diderich contributed to this report.

Sears to shift to independently run units

Assets easier to sell in pieces, analyst says

By Sandra M. Jones
Chicago Tribune

2:48 PM CST, January 20, 2008

Sears Holdings Corp. is reorganizing the retail company into a fleet of independently run operating businesses, each with its own leader and agenda, in a move that could make it easier to sell off assets.

The change, confirmed by the company on Saturday, comes as billionaire hedge fund investor Edward Lampert attempts to save his biggest investment, salvage his reputation and recover billions of dollars in lost equity. Lampert owns 48 percent of Hoffman Estates-based Sears through his Greenwich, Conn.-based hedge fund.

"We are introducing an organizational structure that provides operating businesses with greater control, authority and autonomy," Sears said in a statement. "Each operating business unit will have a designated leader and an advisory group comprised of senior Sears Holdings executives to provide direction and oversee the business unit's performance."

Sears Holdings operates Sears, Kmart and some specialty companies. Just how many units will be created is unclear. But Sears has in the past studied the prospect of putting its real estate holdings into a separate entity. It also could create individual businesses around its Craftsman tools, Kenmore appliances and DieHard batteries brands and sell or license them.

Sears declined to comment beyond the statement.

The reorganization, first reported in the Wall Street Journal on Saturday, was announced inside the company Thursday.

"It seems to me this is more like asset management than brand management," said Neil Stern, partner at McMillan Doolittle, a Chicago-based retail consulting firm. "It would make it easier to sell the parts in pieces, but harder to run as a retail company."

For example, Stern said, if Kenmore appliances are run as a separate business, it would make sense to sell Kenmore at rival stores such as Home Depot or Lowe's in order to boost product sales. But the move could be bad for Sears retail outlets because the broader department store relies on the brand, which is exclusive to Sears, to bring shoppers into the store, where they will hopefully buy other products as well.

Initially, investors bet that Lampert's track record as one of Wall Street's best performing hedge fund managers would allow him to work some magic on Sears, a retailer with lots of assets but little retail flair. But Sears isn't improving as a retailer and Lampert has so far held on to most of Sears' assets.

Sears continues to lose market share to more nimble competitors such as Wal-Mart, Target and Best Buy. After some initial profit improvement under Lampert, thanks to cost cuts and investments, earnings are in decline too.

Profit dropped 99 percent in the third quarter over the year-ago period, its worst quarter by far since the billionaire took control of the department store chain and combined it with Kmart in March 2005. If not for the money made on investments, Sears would have been in the red.

And it's not getting any better. Last week, Sears warned that fourth-quarter earnings per share are expected to decline 35 percent to 51 percent.

With sales falling, the economy sputtering and little room left for more cost cuts, Lampert faces growing pressure to sell assets to generate cash, something investors have been awaiting for more than two years.

Just how autonomous the new business units will be from Lampert is hard to say. Lampert has a reputation as a micromanager, and that can get in the way of recruiting talented retail executives.

Last week, John Walden, the chief customer officer Lampert hired from Best Buy Co., resigned after less than a year in the job, Sears spokesman Chris Brathwaite confirmed. Walden, who reported directly to Lampert, was hired to help Sears become "more entrepreneurial and customer driven," Lampert said in a news release at the time.

Lampert has said from the start that he intended to run Sears as a retailer first and foremost. That left asset sales as a backstop if things went bad.

Nike set to release 23rd Air Jordan

BEAVERTON, Ore. (AP) -- It's gotta be the shoes, right?

No other basketball shoe has changed the face of business, athletics and marketing like the Air Jordan. This month, Nike releases the 23rd edition, and it is expected to be just as venerated as its predecessors.

The sleek design and link to Michael Jordan's jersey number make it a touchstone in the line. It's also Nike's first basketball shoe designed under its "Considered" ethos, which aims to reduce waste and use environmentally friendly materials wherever possible.

The Air Jordan XX3 will be released in three hyped-up rounds from January to February, starting with a limited edition to be sent to only 23 retailers to be sold for $230 and concluding with the national launch at $185.

There had been talk at Nike about retiring the shoe at No. 23, because of his iconic jersey number. But company officials won't say whether this will be the last of the line. Neither will Jordan.

"You'll just have to wait and see," Jordan said in an e-mail to The Associated Press, responding to questions about the upcoming release.

Before launching the first shoe in 1985, Nike had just signed Jordan for $2.5 million over five years. Nike won't say what Jordan's current contract with the company is worth.

Jordan's deal with Nike opened the door for sneaker manufacturers to chase after athletes, signing them up --sometimes just out of high school-- for multimillion-dollar contracts in hopes of being able to cash in on the next superstar. It sent sneaker prices to new heights, which has since generated a backlash against selling pricey shoes to basketball-loving kids.

"The Air Jordan franchise created the most coveted basketball footwear in the world and changed the basketball landscape forever," said Nike Brand President Charlie Denson.

Unlike most basketball shoes to date, which were often white and utilitarian, the Air Jordan was a shock of black and red. It was initially banned by the NBA for not conforming with other players' shoes.

Jordan continued to wear them and was fined $5,000 a game, which Nike paid.

"Nobody expected the mass hysteria created by its release," Jordan, who has been a part-owner of the Charlotte Bobcats since 2006, said in his e-mail to The AP.

A new edition was launched each year, and release dates had to be moved to the weekends to keep kids from skipping school to get a pair.

The frenzy got dangerous. People were mugged and even killed for the shoes.

The Air Jordans helped spawn a subculture of collectors, who line up at stores to buy the shoe's latest edition.

Jordan said he never expected that the shoe would become an icon.

"Like every kid growing up, I dreamed of making winning shots at the buzzer and I was fortunate to live out that dream, but never in my wildest dreams did I ever entertain the idea of the success of the Air Jordan franchise," he said.

The Air Jordans moved basketball shoes from true high-tops or low-tops to a middle range and used unheard of styles, such as patent leather toes and elephant print.

As Jordan's success grew on the courts, so did Nike's in the shoe industry.

People from the streets to the suburbs were wearing $100-plus basketball shoes, which was unheard of at the time.

That price is the norm today, but it has launched a backlash, such as the partnership between New York Knicks player Stephon Marbury and the Steve & Barry's store chain to sell basketball shoes for $14.98 -- a direct stab at pricey sneakers like Air Jordans.

At that time, the Air Jordan captured a mix of design, marketing, athleticism and player charisma that hadn't been seen before in the industry -- everyone wanted to "Be Like Mike."

"Athletes had been endorsing products for years prior to this," said Tinker Hatfield, Nike's Vice President of Innovation Design and Special Projects.

"But they were just signing their name to the shoe. I think there was a very understandable difference...Michael's personality and even the changes in the game and inspiration from other walks of life were all sort of being designed into this product and that made it more interesting."

Jordan and Hatfield work together on the design and function on many of the Air Jordan shoes. Jordan has final say on design matters.

Air Jordan was the lightning in the bottle that every company hopes for.

Advertising images of Jordan soaring across the sky were ubiquitous. Spike Lee could be heard hollering "It's gotta be the shoes" on television. And Jordan's outstretched arms with the swoosh nearby adorned walls across the country.

Nike quickly moved from a running company and newcomer to the basketball category to the market leader. Some industry estimates put Nike's current share of the basketball shoe market at about 85 percent. Far behind are Adidas and Reebok.

The idea of adding such unusual style to a product or so closely aligning with a personality was novel at the time, but it paid off.

Other companies tried to follow suit but it was like trying to come up with the next Harry Potter or iPhone for basketball.

The relationship completely changed the idea of sports marketing. Companies now make athlete sponsorships the centerpiece of their business, spending millions signing them and designing product lines and marketing platforms around them.

Jordan's original deal seems like a pittance compared to multimillion-dollar contracts inked these days, such as Nike's $90 million agreement with LeBron James.

"The beginning of the Jordan era marked a new and more sophisticated approach to leveraging an athlete," said Paul Swangard, managing director of the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center at the University of Oregon.

Like any bet, athletic companies take their risks -- some pay off, like Tiger Woods or LeBron James. But some don't, a la Michael Vick. Nike terminated its contract with Vick last August after his plea agreement on dogfighting charges.

Jordan was spun off into its own division in 1997, a move that some high up in Nike questioned when Jordan retired.

But the business is a key component, with new players signing on under the brand. Nike has spun that Jordan swagger into performance and luxury apparel for men and woman.

The Air Jordan remains the pinnacle piece for shoe collectors. The original Air Jordan 1 can sell for thousands of dollars, depending on various factors.

Jordan said: "It blows my mind that even after five years removed from the game the shoe would be stronger than ever and I would still be greeted by fans as if I had just won a championship all over again."

Macy's to invigorate flagship store

Launches ad campaign, "Take Me to State Street"

Sandra M. Jones
Chicago Tribune

CHICAGO - Macy's Inc. is unveiling a brand campaign aimed at breathing new life into its downtown State Street flagship store, which has alienated some shoppers since converting from Marshall Field's last year [more]

Most women own 19 pairs of shoes -- some secretly

Belinda Goldsmith

NEW YORK (Reuters Life!) - American women have come out of the closet with a secret -- most own about 19 pairs of shoes and some have hidden purchases from their partners. [Read more at Reuters]

The Devil Wears Hermès (He Bought It at the Caesars Palace Mall in Las Vegas)

By MICHIKO KAKUTANI

Published: August 21, 2007

Dana Thomas has written a crisp, witty social history that’s as entertaining as it is informative. (more at The New York Times)

Retail leader, mayor, John Belk dies at 87

The Charlotte Observer

Former Charlotte Mayor John Belk, who ran his family's retail chain for over 50 years, died Friday morning. He was 87.

Belk served four terms as Charlotte's mayor from 1969-1977. That was longer than anybody before current Mayor Pat McCrory.

"John was a highly respected businessman and beloved community leader who played an integral role in the growth, development and success of his company and the Charlotte community," the company said in a statement. "He will be truly missed."

A funeral service will be held Monday at Myers Park Presbyterian Church in Charlotte.

Lord & Taylor to launch $10m celebrity model-focused rebranding ad campaign

WGSN

Department store group Lord & Taylor is set to launch a $10m celebrity model-focused rebranding campaign to spotlight both its updated image and 181-year heritage. The campaign will debut in mid-August and run through the Holiday season.

Showcasing the results of a four-year repositioning, the campaign features a cast of celebrities that include models Carolyn Murphy, Lauren Hutton, Jacquetta Wheeler, Hanne Termote, Megan McNeirney and Erin Heatherton, as well as artist Ed Ruscha, socialites Lauren Davis and Lydia Hearst, plus the children of John McEnroe and Clint Eastwood.

"The stunning images depicted in this campaign will signify Lord & Taylor's relevance in the speciality department store arena," noted CEO Jane Elfers.

Created by ad-man David Lipman and shot in California by Mario Testino, the "striking ads project Lord & Taylor's innate style: unapologetically classic with a multigenerational attitude", said the retailer.

The images will appear in multi-page spreads in the September issues of Vogue and Vanity Fair and in ads featured in W, Harper's Bazaar, Elle, Town & Country, Cookie, In Style, Interview and GQ as well as in major national newspapers.

In addition, 25 billboards will be placed in Boston, Chicago, Connecticut, Detroit, Philadelphia, New York, railroad stations in upscale suburban areas and the Bryant Park Tents during New York Fashion Week.

As part of the re-branding, a $250m capital budget has been earmarked over the next five years by NRDC Equity Partners, which purchased Lord & Taylor from Federated for $1.1bn in 2006.

Liz Claiborne passes away at 78

Chain Store Age

Fashion designer Liz Claiborne has died, the company she founded said Wednesday. She was 78.

Claiborne died Tuesday after suffering from cancer for a number of years, said Gwen Satterfield, personal assistant to Claiborne.

Claiborne founded Liz Claiborne Inc. in 1976 along with her husband Art Ortenberg and Leonard Boxer. Their aim was to create a collection of fashions aimed at the growing number of women entering the work force.

The clothes became an instant hit, and the company went public in 1981. By 1985, Liz Claiborne Inc. was the first company founded by a woman to be listed in the Fortune 500, according to the company's Web site. The company, whose brands now include Ellen Tracy, Dana Buchman and Juicy Couture, generated sales of almost $5 billion last year.

Liz Claiborne retired from day-to-day operations in 1989.

way to shop?

Macy's regional buying strategy is criticized

By SUZANNE KAPNERF
The New York Post

Even as Macy's spends millions of dollars to create a national brand through advertising and store renovations, behind the scenes the company still operates through seven regional buying offices, a system that analysts have panned as outdated and costly.

Macy's argues that its regional divisions allow it to better tailor merchandise for different stores, ensuring that marquee locations such as Macy's Herald Square carry more upscale items than do stores in less affluent neighborhoods.

But analysts point out that Macy's is one of the few large retailers to still rely on regional buying offices. J.C. Penney, Kohl's and Nordstrom are among those that have switched to central systems, yet manage to pepper stores with local flavor, these people said.

As Macy's sales continue to lag expectations, the company's cost structure is increasingly becoming a topic of conversation. This is especially true as savings from its merger with the May Department Stores Co. start to run their course.

"Macy's cost structure is too high, and, as a result, their prices are too high," said Robert Buchanan of A. G. Edwards. "That is a key reason why they are likely to lose market share."

Buchanan estimates that Macy's could save $100 million a year by eliminating all but two of its buying offices. He favors the retention of regional merchandise managers to ensure that products are tailored to individual stores.

Such a move would help bring Macy's expenses in line with competitors. According to Buchanan, Macy's expense-to- sales ratio is 32 percent compared with 27 percent for Nordstrom and 25 percent for both J.C. Penney and Kohl's.

Macy's has tried centralized buying in its home department with disastrous results, making it less likely the company would move quickly to streamline other divisions, observers said.

The move to central buying for bedding, furniture and other items for the home pre-dated Macy's, then known as Federated Department Stores, 2005 merger with the May Co.

Logistical problems with warehouse and distribution centers overwhelmed the Macy's team. Then the housing slump kicked in, further hurting sales of home goods, which have been among the company's weakest performers.

The pressure to cut costs by centralizing operations comes as Macy's finds it increasingly difficult to integrate the roughly 400 stores it acquired from the May Co.

Macy's is adding more promotions and adjusting merchandise through a seven-box grid. Prices range from good, better, best. Styles are lumped into four groups with traditional being the most conservative and fashion the most trendy.

Tinkering with the merchandise only works if consumers perceive products sold at Macy's to be of comparable or better value to what competitors are offering, analysts said.

For instance, towels sold at Macy's under its private label Charter Club brand for $16 stack up poorly against Target's Fieldcrest towels, which regularly go for $11.99, said Robert Passikoff of Brand Keys.