ST. LOUIS (AP) — May Department Stores Co. is nearing completion of a plan to shut down 32 underperforming Lord & Taylor department stores, saving the company $50 million annually, the retailer said Tuesday.
The six stores scheduled to close at the end of January are in Houston, Atlanta, Virginia Beach, Va., Denver, Albany, N.Y., and Springfield, Mass. That will bring to 25 the number of Lord & Taylor stores closed since the company announced in July 2003 it intended to shut down underperforming stores in 15 states, leaving 3,700 employees without jobs.
The closure of the remaining seven stores could be finalized within a month, said Sharon Bateman, a spokeswoman for the St. Louis-based department store chain. Those stores are in Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, Denver, Orlando, Fla., Raleigh, N.C., and Providence, R.I.
The divestiture process initially was expected to take up to three years.
Lord & Taylor will keep open 54 stores in what Bateman called core markets "in the Northeast over to Chicago and St. Louis."
The closures are part of a strategic move to reposition Lord & Taylor as an upscale fashion retailer.
"From the merchandising end, they are adding new vendors, distinctive vendors, to have a much more fashionable, upscale merchandise," Bateman said.