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By Kent Larsen
ZCMI Stores Broken Up
LITTLE ROCK, ARKANSAS -- Not all former ZCMI stores will carry the Meier and
Frank name, as an announcement Wednesday made clear. Arkansas-based
Dillards, Inc., announced then that it had reached an agreement to purchase
four former ZCMI stores in Utah and Idaho from May Department Stores, the
corporate parent of Meier and Frank. May purchased the ZCMI chain from the
LDS Church in December 1999.
The sale, confirmed by May, concentrates the Meier and Frank ZCMI stores
along the Wasatch Front while giving Dillards stores in a region where the
chain says it enjoys strong sales. Dillards had tried in past years to buy
ZCMI several times, but the LDS Church wasn't interested in selling at that
point.
May spokeswoman Sharon Bateman said that the stores were too far away to be
efficiently served. "These were quite a distance from our core group of
stores in the Salt Lake City metro area," she said. The four stores sold to
Dillards are located in St. George, Utah, Logan, Utah, Pocatello, Idaho and
Idaho Falls, Idaho.
Dillards plans to complete the acquisition of the stores on April 18th and
change the stores' names on the same day. Meier and Frank had already
announced that it would change the name of its stores on that day. Meier and
Frank will also begin a $60 million renovation of 5 of its remaining stores.
May remains with eight of the ZCMI stores in Utah and one in Arizona.
Sources:
Dillard's Buys Four ZCMI Retail Outlets
Salt Lake Tribune 29Mar01 B4
By Steven Oberbeck and Phil Sahm: Salt Lake Tribune
Little Rock, Ark.-Based Department Store Chain To Buy Retailer
Ogden UT Standard-Examiner 29Mar01 B4
By Gary Hinds: Standard-Examiner
Dillard's to buy Logan ZCMI store
Logan UT Herald Journal 29Mar01 B4
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