Closing Lord & Taylor

The May Department Stores Co. (St. Louis) reported that arrangements to close 25 of the 32 Lord & Taylor stores have been completed. The closing of the 32 underperforming stores, as part of a strategic repositioning of Lord & Taylor — the organization’s New York-based operation — as an upscale fashion retailer, had been announced in July 2003.

Two of those stores — in Aventura Mall (Miami) and Willowbrook Mall (Houston) — have been sold to the respective mall developers.

There are currently seven Lord & Taylor stores remaining to be divested, and the department store retailer says active negotiations are expected to conclude in the next 30 days on several additional locations. The lease at one location permits store closure on Jan. 31, 2006.

Last week, May announced that six of the stores in question would be closed by the end of January 2005: Houston Galleria; North Point Mall (Atlanta); Lynnhaven Mall (Virginia Beach, Va.); FlatIron Crossing (Denver); Crossgates Mall (Albany, N.Y).; and Holyoke Mall (Springfield, Mass.). The stores at North Point Mall and Lynnhaven Mall are being purchased by the developer, General Growth Properties. The store at Crossgates Mall is being purchased by Pyramid, and the FlatIron Crossing store is being purchased by Macerich. At the Houston Galleria and Holyoke Mall stores, leases are being terminated.