St. Louis is going to get ***** in so many ways! 
- 2,005
Well, I guess it's official, let's hope they keep the downtown store(and others in the region) open. It's good that we have no Macy's to directly compete, but there will probably be jobs lost at the HQ downtown.
I found this blurb on the New York times website
May, which is based in St. Louis, is expected to keep some offices there, but there will be layoffs.
I found this blurb on the New York times website
May, which is based in St. Louis, is expected to keep some offices there, but there will be layoffs.
^Well that's good. May apparently did a good job of negotiating offices in St. Louis - although in time I believe it'll be phased out.
Plus, I'm ready to hear more details because I think Federated is headed for New York - if not now then eventually.
It's sad to see May gobbled up but the competition in the retail industry is getting stiff - only the strongest survive. Sears (Chicago) is gobbling up K-Mart (Detroit) so St. Louis isn't the only city to take HQ's hit in the retail industry.
The discounters -especially Wal-Mart- is wreaking havoc on the retail industry. Even after this huge hit though, St. Louis is still a major player in the retail industry.
Plus, I'm ready to hear more details because I think Federated is headed for New York - if not now then eventually.
It's sad to see May gobbled up but the competition in the retail industry is getting stiff - only the strongest survive. Sears (Chicago) is gobbling up K-Mart (Detroit) so St. Louis isn't the only city to take HQ's hit in the retail industry.
The discounters -especially Wal-Mart- is wreaking havoc on the retail industry. Even after this huge hit though, St. Louis is still a major player in the retail industry.
Arch City, could you clarify/expand on this statement, please:
St. Louis is still a major player in the retail industry.
How so?
Thanks.
St. Louis is still a major player in the retail industry.
How so?
Thanks.
^^
"retail" can mean so many companies.
As for "tangible" retail,
a couple big ones I can think of:
Brown Shoe
Build a Bear
"retail" can mean so many companies.
As for "tangible" retail,
a couple big ones I can think of:
Brown Shoe
Build a Bear
- 1,054
It's officially official and May is being consolodated to the fashion capital of the United States, New York. St. Louis os loosing a great philanthropic company that has remained dedicated to St. Louis through the many years of decline and decay. May has greatly contributed to our creative spirit and fashion. Now must increasingly rely on fashion to come from smaller retailers mostly in Downtown. Maybe the designers of May could debunk Federated/May and open their own stores to keep our edge. Woe to St. Louis and Woe to the great economic boost May has been to the region.
WOE
WOE
bencharif wrote:Arch City, could you clarify/expand on this statement, please:
St. Louis is still a major player in the retail industry.
How so?
Thanks.
bencharif, to answer your question...Keep in mind that St. Louis was a major garment and shoe center. It helped to spawn lots of retail business in the region. Lots of shoe manufacturing still occurs in the region too. Below are some of the retail firms based in St. Louis, there are others that I cannot think of now.
Glik's Department Stores
Missouri
Illinois
Indiana
Michigan
Wisconsin
Ohio
Franchise Concepts Inc.
Deck The Walls
The Great Frame Up
Framing & Art Centre
Bakers Footwear Group
Bakers
Wild Pair
Sam & Libby
Martin's
Leed's
Hot Line
Mark Austin Bespoke Couture
A highly respected African-American-owned couture suit firm with locations in New York, London, Italy, Japan.
Link: MarkAustin Bespoke
Furniture Brands International
Largest furniture company. Parent company to Thomasville, Broyhill, and Lane furniture galleries.
Broyhill, Lane, Thomasville, Henredon Furniture, Ralph Lauren Home Collection, Drexel Heritage Furnishings and Maitland-Smith brand furniture). Furniture Brands is the industry's only full-line, whole-home resource in all middle- and upper-price categories. Furniture Brands is the nation's largest maker of residential furniture.
CCA Global Partners
The firm has more than 2,000 stores selling name-brand carpets and floor coverings such as ceramic tile, laminates, and hardwoods.
Carpet One
Flooring America
Flooring One
ProSource
Wholesale Floor Coverings
Stone Mountains Carpet Mill Outlet
FloorExpo
International Design Guild
Rug D?cor
Lighting One
Lenders
Tuxedo America Group (a division CCA Global Partners).
Over 300 stores throughout the country.
Al's Formal Wear
Mister Neats
Schapiro's
Formal Shop
Ascot Tuxedos
Sacino's Formalwear
Derks Formals
Friar Tux Shop
Skeffington's Formalwear
Mr. Tux & Squire Tux
Brown Shoe Company
Famous Footwear
Naturalizer
Supermarket of Shoes
Warehouse of Shoes
Factory Brand Shoes
Wolff Brand Shoes
Marmi upscale footwear shops in many malls and shopping centers throughout the country.
Kellwood Company
David Dart stores, Wenzel Company (major manufacturer of camping equipment), Gerber Childrenswear, Phat Fashions (Baby Phat, Phat Farm), Baby Looney Tunes, Little Suzy's Zoo and Curity brand names, the Onesies trademark and private labels, Briggs New York, Group B Clothing, Beginnings "the best place to start?" Beliza? Bill Burns? Briggs? New York Calvin Klein? Componix? David Brooks? David Dart Collection? David Meister? DBY? Def Jam University?and many others.
Then there are other non-clothing retail firms
-Dry Ice (locations in many states)
-Build-A-Bear Workshop (many national and international locations)
-Sears Portrait Studios (CPI Corporation)
-Life Uniform (Angelica) (all 50 states)
-Scrubs and Beyond (15 states nationally)
-Knights Direct (large catalog firm)
-Medicine-Shoppe Pharmacies. Nearly 1,200 stores in the United States, and nearly 300 in six countries: Australia, Canada, China, India, Indonesia , Japan and Taiwan.
-Schnucks Markets (Missouri, Wisconsin, Tennessee, Illinois, Iowa, Indiana, Mississippi)
-Shop-N-Save
-Save-A-Lot (1,000 stores nationally)
-Panera Bread (aka St. Louis Bread Company)
-Hardee's
-Enterprise-Rent-A-Car
-The Tan Company
-Fish Window Cleaning
-Dent Wizard International
-Waterway Gas & Wash of Chesterfield, Mo. (St. Louis, KC, Denver)
-The Crack Team (Missouri, Kansas, Illinois, Michigan, Massachusetts, New Hampshire)
From the NYC Post:
[It was unclear this morning what effect that would have on Federated's headquarters employees in downtown Cincinnati or on its other employees in the region. May's corporate headquarters functions will be merged into Federated's Cincinnati and New York offices, but Federated will keep a major operating division in St. Louis, officials said. ]
As well as uncertainty for many Federated employees too - not just May Co's:
[The deal could mean layoffs for nearly 2,000 workers at Federated's Cincinnati-based credit card business. The retailer has been evaluating what to do with the unit as department stores like Sears, Dillard's and Saks have sold off similar operations to raise cash. ]
[It was unclear this morning what effect that would have on Federated's headquarters employees in downtown Cincinnati or on its other employees in the region. May's corporate headquarters functions will be merged into Federated's Cincinnati and New York offices, but Federated will keep a major operating division in St. Louis, officials said. ]
As well as uncertainty for many Federated employees too - not just May Co's:
[The deal could mean layoffs for nearly 2,000 workers at Federated's Cincinnati-based credit card business. The retailer has been evaluating what to do with the unit as department stores like Sears, Dillard's and Saks have sold off similar operations to raise cash. ]
Federated-May is moving to NYC. St. Louis and Cincinnati will be getting crumbs.
Federated's CEO already operates from NYC plus both companies already have divisions that operate out of NYC. I could be wrong, but the combined firm seems to be heading to NYC.
Federated's CEO already operates from NYC plus both companies already have divisions that operate out of NYC. I could be wrong, but the combined firm seems to be heading to NYC.
There's no WOE. Details are still being hashed out in terms of what the combined company will mean for each community. I think you are jumping the gun a bit. The combined company hasn't determined what they are going to do with the downtown store yet. FYI, the combined company is going to be putting one of three divisions in St. Louis - most likely they'll be staying in the Railway Exchange.SMSPlanstu wrote:It's officially official and May is being consolodated to the fashion capital of the United States, New York. St. Louis os loosing a great philanthropic company that has remained dedicated to St. Louis through the many years of decline and decay. May has greatly contributed to our creative spirit and fashion. Now must increasingly rely on fashion to come from smaller retailers mostly in Downtown. Maybe the designers of May could debunk Federated/May and open their own stores to keep our edge. Woe to St. Louis and Woe to the great economic boost May has been to the region.
WOE
And yes, philantrophic donations by the combined company is likely to dwindle considerably, but to what extent, we don't know.
Furthermore, although this deal is likely to happen, it still needs to be cleared by federal regulators.
Arch City: Thanks so much for the fashion- and retail-related information. It's very helpful to me to be able to understand developments such as May's probable departure in their proper, and larger, context.
Thank you, too, for confirming my impression--supported by a range of developments, some relating to business, some not--that St. Louis is transitioning, mostly successfully, into its new identity as a postindustrial city.
I think it's important to remember that a corporate headquarters roster is only one measure of a city's national or international standing. Woe? Maybe my vision is clouded by distance, but I don't think that's an appropriate response, either.
Thank you, too, for confirming my impression--supported by a range of developments, some relating to business, some not--that St. Louis is transitioning, mostly successfully, into its new identity as a postindustrial city.
I think it's important to remember that a corporate headquarters roster is only one measure of a city's national or international standing. Woe? Maybe my vision is clouded by distance, but I don't think that's an appropriate response, either.
- 835
Also keep in mind that the mergers and acquisitions of major corporations have absolutely nothing to do with the city they're based in. It's just the nature of big business. Tier 1 cities have also lost a lot of big companies over the years. It's not a measure of a city's true status.
I reread SMSPlanstu's comment and he's certainly entitled to his state of mind so I did minimize his feelings a bit. There wasn't any maliciousness intended on my part though.bencharif wrote:Woe? Maybe my vision is clouded by distance, but I don't think that's an appropriate response, either.
My problem with part of the comment, however, was that it seems to suggest the downtown store and philanthropy by the combined company will dry up like a plum in the desert. While we can assume, we don't know any of this yet. Perhaps it will happen.
For me, "woe" depicts sadness, which I guess many people in St. Louis are feeling today. However, "woe" buys into the notion of a "psychological hit" that Richard Fleming of the RCGA was talking about.
St. Louis is still chockfull of firms, many of which are emerging new economy businesses. Many cities would not have been able to withstand the corporate hits that St. Louis has taken, which is why I did the Analysis of St. Louis corporate losses and gains thread. I guess because I try to be optimistic, as well as follow business I don't feel as sad - although it is very regrettable they won't exist in St. Louis anymore.
I anticipate these moves in business. For example, when Sears (Chicago) announced that it was going to buy K-Mart (Detroit) it was discussed at length on skyscraperpage.com in November 2004. I suggested then May and Federated would start talking again.
Read: Skyscraperpage.com
Kmart, Sears to merge, create nation's third-largest retailer
Nobody paid attention to what I suggested, perhaps for a number of reasons, but such a merger has come to fruition three months later.
Mergers and acquisitions of St. Louis companies by outside firms and the potential downside don't surprise me. Federated has been pursuing May for a long time and with the level of consolidation happening in the retail industry left and right? this is no surprise to me whatsoever. It's unfortunate to see May die after 100 years in St. Louis, but it's not woe ? at least for me. It's simply the nature of business.
People should be used to this by now. Cities lose and gain firms all of the time especially when certain business segments start a binge of consolidations ? like what occurred in the banking industry. Now it's the retail industry's turn.
Let me finish by saying that I anticipate St. Louis having more companies on the upcoming Fortune F500-F1000 list than ever before. I believe this is another reason for people not to feel "woeful".
when Sears (Chicago) announced that it was going to buy K-Mart (Detroit)
Actually, the other way around, KMART (Detroit) bought SEARS (Chicago)
http://www.detnews.com/2004/business/04 ... 1-8832.htm
My problem with part of the comment, however, was that it seems to suggest the downtown store and philanthropy by the combined company will dry up like a plum in the desert. While we can assume, we don't know any of this yet. Perhaps it will happen.
I agree Arch City.
I really believe that the city of St. Louis will push for the downtown store to remain open... and in my opinion, if Federated looks at the history, culture and importance of the Downtown St. Louis store and wants to "warm up" to the local community, keeping the downtown Famous - changing into a new Macy's and creating a new fresh store and look to it, it would be in their best interest. Federated is not anti-downtown stores and they have several stores in downtown markets (Indy, Cincy, etc.) not the size of Downtown St. Louis.
It looks like Federated will keep a good STL presence and workforce (which is good for the rapport.)
Thanks.
Thanks for that clarification about KMart buying Sears.matguy70 wrote:when Sears (Chicago) announced that it was going to buy K-Mart (Detroit)
Actually, the other way around, KMART (Detroit) bought SEARS (Chicago)
http://www.detnews.com/2004/business/04 ... 1-8832.htm
I really believe the downtown store will remain open. Macy's even has smaller versions of its store. I don't see them closing the downtown store- at least not immediately - and especially if a division of the combined firm is to remain above the current department store.
I remember walking past the Union Carbide Building at 47th and Park and watching the workmen putting up plywood over the huge plate glass windows after the company decided it preferred the charms (and the tax breaks) of suburban Connecticut.
I remember one of our lesser-light presidents telling New York where we could put our budget deficit. Front-page story in The Daily News. Probably the biggest headline Gerald Ford ever got.
I remember "Escape from New York," a B-movie in which Hollywood prognosticators showed us a picture of ourselves, sinking farther and deeper into the muck of crime, physical decay and moral corruption that was our destiny as a city.
I remember the months after 9/11, when the patriots of Lehman Brothers and other corporate stalwarts fled downtown and carloads of fashionistas left Nolita and Tribeca behind for Marin, Santa Fe and Sedona, saying New York was 'over.'
Well here we New Yorkers are, years, even decades later, population approaching 9 million; mass transit ridership at levels not seen since the Eisenhower Administration; employment at pre-9/11 levels, and not just in the finance and insurance industries; and a housing market that gives trust-fund babies nightmares.
New York is a city in which people want very much to live. St. Louis is not its equivalent, but I believe St. Louis has many of the elements--granted, in microcosm--that make New York interesting, exciting and attractive. Many of these elements are remnants of an infrastructure laid down a long time ago--the open spaces, the public institutions, the architecture and diversified commerce that are the markers of an important, even a great city. And some of these elements are being added now, to accommodate a new generation that sees this city through a very different lens.
That's the city my wife and I see, too; a city in which we very much want to live. I suspect this transition in the commercial life of the city is a necessary step in the process of creating St. Louis anew.
I remember one of our lesser-light presidents telling New York where we could put our budget deficit. Front-page story in The Daily News. Probably the biggest headline Gerald Ford ever got.
I remember "Escape from New York," a B-movie in which Hollywood prognosticators showed us a picture of ourselves, sinking farther and deeper into the muck of crime, physical decay and moral corruption that was our destiny as a city.
I remember the months after 9/11, when the patriots of Lehman Brothers and other corporate stalwarts fled downtown and carloads of fashionistas left Nolita and Tribeca behind for Marin, Santa Fe and Sedona, saying New York was 'over.'
Well here we New Yorkers are, years, even decades later, population approaching 9 million; mass transit ridership at levels not seen since the Eisenhower Administration; employment at pre-9/11 levels, and not just in the finance and insurance industries; and a housing market that gives trust-fund babies nightmares.
New York is a city in which people want very much to live. St. Louis is not its equivalent, but I believe St. Louis has many of the elements--granted, in microcosm--that make New York interesting, exciting and attractive. Many of these elements are remnants of an infrastructure laid down a long time ago--the open spaces, the public institutions, the architecture and diversified commerce that are the markers of an important, even a great city. And some of these elements are being added now, to accommodate a new generation that sees this city through a very different lens.
That's the city my wife and I see, too; a city in which we very much want to live. I suspect this transition in the commercial life of the city is a necessary step in the process of creating St. Louis anew.
I agree 100%.bencharif wrote:
I suspect this transition in the commercial life of the city is a necessary step in the process of creating St. Louis anew.
I am not so sure that Federated will keep the downtown St. Louis store. I would hope they might, but even now and in the near future, I don't know that the population in and around downtown is enough to keep it. The operations here in St. Louis for federated may well resemble their operations in Atlanta, also home to a major operating division. However, downtown Atlanta, with a population around 27,000 still saw the downtown Macy's close. Don't know if the federated offices are downtown as well and offices for federated in St. Louis downtown might help the city's odds of keeping the store, but i am not so positive.
- 377
From the St. Louis Business Journal:
Home again
While Federated's purchase of May Department Stores Co. has many people speculating about cutbacks, it's also resulted in the return of the home furnishings department at May's downtown Famous-Barr store. Shuttered just three months ago, the department will return by early June, confirmed Famous-Barr spokeswoman Helen Weiss.
Home again
While Federated's purchase of May Department Stores Co. has many people speculating about cutbacks, it's also resulted in the return of the home furnishings department at May's downtown Famous-Barr store. Shuttered just three months ago, the department will return by early June, confirmed Famous-Barr spokeswoman Helen Weiss.
That could be a good sign that the store will stay open, or they are just adding it as another reason for Federated to keep it open. Either way, good news.