Discount Stores

The Cosmetic Center Inc. ended a once successful but more recently troubled run yesterday, announcing that it will close its remaining 124 stores and its Columbia headquarters by the end of the year.The discount cosmetics retailer, which started as a wholesaler in 1957 and grew to a 260-store chain at its peak, had been in bankruptcy since mid-April. It had announced plans to close 116 stores this year, 73 of which have been shuttered."Based on an increasingly competitive marketplace and the company's financial position ... the board of directors, with management support, thought this was the best alternative," said Wendi Kopsick, a company spokeswoman.

Stronger-than-anticipat- ed consumer spending drove December holiday sales above expectations for many of the nation's retailers, though shifts in shopping patterns led to clear winners and losers for the month.Discounters, such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc., and specialty stores, such as AnnTaylor Stores Corp., posted even stronger gains than expected, while more moderately priced department store chains J. C. Penney Co. and Sears, Roebuck and Co. struggled, according to sales figures released yesterday by major retailers.

Consumers hunted bargains in the nation's stores in November, favoring discounters and specialty chains over department stores, and leaving winter apparel untouched on the racks amid spring-like weather throughout much of the nation.The nation's biggest retailers, which reported November sales yesterday, just barely met expectations, as gains at Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Gap Inc. helped offset sharp declines at department store chains such as Sears, Roebuck and Co."The department stores have taken a bloodbath," said Kurt Barnard, president of Barnard's Retail Trend Report in Upper Montclair, N.J. "The discount stores are doing quite well and thriving at the expense of the department stores."

Consumers went shopping at specialty stores and discounters in October, handing a blow to department store chains that have been losing customers.Reports on October sales from the nation's biggest retailers yesterday showed mixed results, amid concerns over Wall Street volatility and signs of an economic slowdown."

Consumers bypassed department stores and upscale specialty shops in favor of the big discounters in September, while some retailers began seeing signs of eroding consumer confidence.The nation's biggest retailers reported mixed sales yesterday, though a penchant for bargains boosted sales at Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Kmart Corp., helping the retail sector as a whole beat analysts' expectations for the month."We are seeing an increasing shift of spending dollars from the more conventional department stores to discount stores," said Kurt Barnard of Barnard's Retail Trend Report.

At the Target in Aberdeen, shoppers have begun swarming the aisles hunting for Spice Girls folders. At Cohen's Clothiers in Cockeysville, they're loading up on khaki pants. And at Hess Shoes in Towson, youngsters are slipping out of sandals and into athletic shoes and oxfords.Long, lazy days of summer might as well be over: Retailers have kicked off the back-to-school selling season, second only to -- if not bigger than -- Christmas.The duds are more casual, the season longer and the students more discriminating than in years past, but some things never change in the generations-old tradition of shopping for school.

A surge in post-Christmas buying at the nation's stores helped boost December retail sales during an otherwise slow holiday season, retailers reported yesterday.As the season failed to measure up to expectations for the third year in a row, retailers slashed after-Christmas prices and shoppers came out in force.That last-minute rush saved the month for many retailers, with analysts characterizing the selling period as fair."If it hadn't been for the surge of selling that followed Christmas, it would have been very sad for most retailers," said Kurt Barnard, president of Barnard's Retail Trend Report, a New Jersey forecasting firm.

WAL-MART Stores Inc. announced last week that it would open about 185 stores in the fiscal year that will begin Feb. 1. The move was initiated in hopes of boosting merchandise and food sales for the world's largest retailer.The openings would include 120 to 125 supercenters, 50 discount stores and about 10 Sam's Club stores. Supercenters combine Wal-Mart's traditional discount stores with grocery stores.Wal-Mart is developing 50 to 60 stores to open internationally, in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, Indonesia, Mexico and Puerto Rico.

BENTONVILLE, Ark. -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said yesterday that it will open about 185 stores in the fiscal year beginning Feb. 1 in a plan to boost merchandise and food sales.The company said the openings will include 120 to 125 supercenters, 50 discount stores and about 10 Sam's Clubs stores. The world's largest retailer now has 2,771 stores.Wal-Mart said about 90 of the supercenters would be expansions or relocations of its discount stores. Supercenters combine Wal-Mart's traditional discount stores with grocery stores.

First, Loehmann's let men into the Back Room.Now, it's going to try to sell them clothes.Loehmann's, an institution in women's discount shopping, is opening a men's department today in 19 locations nationwide, including Timonium.The struggling retail chain, founded 75 years ago by Frieda Loehmann in an automobile showroom in Brooklyn, N.Y., was famous for its Back Room, where women undressed to try on designer clothes. Meanwhile, men sat outside on benches waiting for their wives.When Loehmann's renovated and nearly doubled the store size in Timonium in May, the Back Room was separated from the communal dressing room and became a department in the store.