Caldor

NEW YORK -- Bankrupt Caldor Corp. is being sued for $26 million by a liquidators' group that claims it paid too much for inventory at the discount chain's 145 stores.The liquidators -- Gordon Brothers Retail Partners LLC, Schottenstein Bernstein Capital Group LLC and the Ozer Group LLC -- agreed to pay $223.7 million for Caldor's remaining inventory in February, 85 percent of it up front. Norwalk, Conn.-based Caldor said in January that it was going out of business, shutting its discount stores and putting about 20,000 people out of work.

At the Dollar Outlet in Catonsville Plaza, Joyce Branch has taped helium balloons to a corner of her plate-glass window for a reason. That way, the shop owner can gaze at the festive display -- and block the view of a vast, empty parking lot that separates her small store from a vacant Caldor.Branch once had a more pleasant view. Six months ago she and her husband, George, opened the shop in the plaza on U.S. 40, sharing a small strip with a dry cleaner, a drug store, a rental center and a wig shop.

Caldor Corp., the defunct discount retailer that has closed 145 stores, will try to sell 39 store leases -- including four in the Baltimore area -- at auction in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, the company handling lease disposition said yesterday.Norwalk, Conn.-based Caldor, which ran stores in the Northeast -- eight in the Baltimore area -- had operated under Bankruptcy Court protection since 1995. In January, after several failed attempts to return to profitability, the retailer said it would shut down for good by spring.

The Howard County Department of Planning and Zoning has approved a minor variance request that could lead to the redevelopment of Chatham Mall in Ellicott City, one of the oldest shopping centers in the county.The department agreed Fridayto allow Chatham Mall Co. LLP to reduce the required 100-foot setback from a public street right of way to 80 feet for two freestanding buildings totaling almost 151,000 square feet.The approval paves the way for the company to build a 14,820-square-foot building between the Giant and Kmart stores and a 136,000-square-foot building where Caldor is now.Caldor has declared bankruptcy and plans to close all eight Baltimore-area stores by mid-May.

Caldor Corp., the latest casualty of a retail war being won by mass discounters, said yesterday it will shut down for good this spring, closing 145 stores -- including eight in the Baltimore area -- and laying off its 20,000 employees.The Norwalk, Conn.-based retailer, with discount stores throughout the Northeast, has operated under bankruptcy court protection since 1995. The company announced Jan. 9 that it had stopped ordering or taking delivery of new stock from suppliers.The $2.5 billion company had attempted to return to profitability by cutting costs and closing stores -- including one at Cranberry Mall in Westminster and another at Golden Ring Mall in Rosedale last year -- but said it fell short of its goals.

NEW YORK -- Kohl's Corp., a fast-growing U.S. department-store company, is interested in buying about 30 stores from Caldor Corp. to speed its expansion in the Northeast, analysts and investors said yesterday.Caldor, which has been in Chapter 11 bankruptcy since 1995, stopped paying suppliers last week. The regional discount chain has been negotiating with creditors who want Caldor to liquidate and sell its 145 stores to increase the amount they recover.The stores Kohl's is looking at are in southern Connecticut and nearby areas, analysts said.

NORWALK, Conn. -- Caldor Corp. has stopped paying its suppliers as it tries to negotiate with creditors who want the company to sell its 145 stores.The discount retailer, which has operated under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code since 1995, "has suspended payments for merchandise shipments and has also suspended its receipt of merchandise for which it has not paid while it continues its discussions with other creditor constituencies," said Jim Fingeroth,...

Cranberry Mall, Carroll County's largest shopping center, has been put on the market by its New York-based owner and may be sold in a matter of months.In the short term, the sale would have little impact on the mall's 80 stores, mall managers said. But over time, shop owners and retail analysts expect a new owner to revitalize a retail property that has fallen into a slump with the loss this year of Caldor, one of its longtime anchor stores."The customer will have no idea that it changed hands.

Two Baltimore-area Caldors are among 12 underperforming stores Caldor Corp. plans to shed this spring as part of its bankruptcy reorganization.The store at Golden Ring Mall, with 90 employees, and another at Cranberry Mall in Westminster, which employs 60, are scheduled to close, as are seven stores in the Washington, D.C., market. The discount retailer also will pull out of three New York locations.Eight stores will remain in the Baltimore region, including one remodeled late last year in Timonium and the newest, which opened several years ago in Parkville.

ANY differences among the discount department stores are lost on me.The first time I walked into a Wal-Mart, I saw a glorified Kmart, which never was that different from Caldor. Target seemed brighter and somewhat more orderly, but it had the same essential qualities: a broad selection of merchandise, discount prices and sales people one would need a homing device to find in the automotive section.At the grand opening of Ellicott City's new Wal-Mart store on Wednesday, one devoted customer tried in vain to explain to me the characteristics that distinguish one discount store from the other.