Federated Gets its May

In announcing the completion of its merger with The May Department Stores Co. (St. Louis), Federated Department Stores Inc. (Cincinnati) today announced it has identified an additional seven duplicate stores — in California, New York and Massachusetts — that it will divest in 2006.

The seven newly identified locations are: Filene’s in Cape Cod Mall (Hyannis, Mass.); Lord & Taylor in Walt Whitman Mall (Huntington Station, N.Y.); Lord & Taylor in South Shore Mall (Bay Shore, N.Y.); Macy’s West in Fashion Island (Newport Beach, Calif.); Macy’s West in Westminster (Calif.) Mall; Macy’s West’s men’s and home store in The Promenade (Woodland Hills, Calif.); and a Macy’s West in Simi Valley (Calif.) Town Center that wasn’t scheduled to open until October. Federated said Macy’s intends to open and support this store until divestiture, as well as to fulfill its lease obligation.

These seven locations join a list of 68 stores nationwide that Federated announced on July 28 it intends to divest as part of a plan to convert May Company nameplates nationwide to Macy’s.

In addition, Federated confirmed that it intends to divest either the Filene’s or Macy’s East store in downtown Boston. The specific store to be divested has not yet been determined.

Once duplicate stores are divested, their workforces will be integrated into nearby Macy’s and/or Bloomingdale’s stores.

Also yesterday, the New York State attorney general said Federated must sell 26 stores as part of an antitrust agreement it made with the states of California, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York and Pennsylvania.

“Today is a landmark day in the history of our company,” said Federated chairman, president and ceo Terry Lundgren, Federated’s chairman, president and chief executive officer. “Two great organizations have come together, and we see tremendous opportunity ahead. We see opportunity to bring distinctive fashion and affordable luxury to our customers, opportunity for our people to grow and develop, opportunity to increase shareholder value, and opportunity to be a stronger partner for our communities.

“We will be meeting with the May Company organization and continuing to learn more about its business so we can make the best possible long-term decisions,” Lundgren said. “In the short term, we are firmly focused on serving customers and delivering results through the holiday selling season.”

Federated expects to operate all May Company stores under their existing nameplates at least through the end of 2005. Conversion of most May Company locations to the Macy’s nameplate is expected in fall 2006.