Maryland Stores

Struggling retailer Service Merchandise Co. Inc., the last catalog-showroom chain in the United States, will close more than a third of its stores in the next three to four months in a restructuring aimed at shrinking debt and recapturing sales, the company said yesterday.The Nashville, Tenn.-based retailer said it will shut down as many as 134 underperforming stores to focus on refining its niche in fine jewelry, gifts and home products at the remaining 213 stores.Service Merchandise, whose sales have been slumping for months as it deals with financing, management and other problems, has stores in 34 states.

London Fog Industries Inc., founded in Baltimore more than 75 years ago and now headquartered in Eldersburg, filed for bankruptcy yesterday and said it will close 115 of its 140 stores nationwide.Company officials said the Chapter 11 filing is an attempt to restructure operations and redefine the company's mission and should not be seen as the beginning of the end of one of the world's best-known clothing labels.The company narrowly escaped a bankruptcy filing in 1995 by restructuring debt and streamlining operations.

American Retail Group Inc., the parent company of Norcross, Ga.-based Uptons department stores, will close the 75-store chain, which has two outlets in Maryland.More than 4,000 people, including the 99 employees of the stores in Columbia and Gaithersburg, will lose their jobs.The stores will close by the end of the year after liquidating their inventory."It's a very competitive industry," American Retail spokeswoman Shira Weissman said yesterday."Our financial performance is not meeting our expectations."

Levitz Furniture Inc. will close all five of its Maryland stores as part of a plan to become profitable by shedding outlets and cutting its work force, the Boca Raton, Fla.-based chain said yesterday.The nation's second-largest home furnishings retailer will pull out of Maryland and seven other states, closing 27 stores and laying off 1,000 workers, to focus on stronger markets on both coasts, the company said. Levitz, which will be left with 63 locations in 13 states, has already closed 39 outlets in two rounds since filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in September 1997.

Dick's Clothing & Sporting Goods confirmed yesterday the October opening of its first three Maryland stores -- in White Marsh, Glen Burnie and Hunt Valley -- setting up a battle with entrenched Baltimore retailers for consumer dollars.The privately held company with headquarters in Coraopolis, Pa., near Pittsburgh, declined to disclose its investment but said each warehouse-sized store would take up 60,000 square feet and employ about 125 people, many of them hired locally."The company is in the middle of an aggressive growth stage," said Joe Queri, Dick's vice president of real estate.

Wine is one of the last bastions of old-fashioned retailing. In some ways that's good. In most it's awful.The good part is that a well-run liquor store that specializes in wine can be a place of great personality -- "where everybody knows your name," as the song goes. The owners take a personal interest in customers, make good recommendations and even call customers when an item of interest comes in.The problem is that these stores are rare, especially in Maryland. Out of hundreds of liquor outlets in the state, maybe two dozen offer superior selection and service.

An article in The Sun yesterday stated incorrectly that all Leggett department stores in Maryland will now be open on Sundays. The article failed to mention the Leggett store in California, Md., which will not be open Sundays.The Sun regrets the error.Responding to changes in customer shopping habits, the Leggett department store chain is breaking with family tradition and permanently opening its stores on Sundays.The 45-store chain's two Maryland stores -- at Cranberry Mall in Westminster and Francis Scott Key Mall in Frederick -- will be open from noon to 5 p.m. Sundays beginning July 18."

This is a lousy time -- and Maryland is a lousy place -- to be looking for a job. But don't tell Timothy F. Finley.As chief executive of Hampstead-based Jos. A. Bank Clothiers Inc., he is among the small group of Maryland executives who are boosting employment these days.A report released Thursday said that Maryland suffered the second-largest job loss of any state in the 12 months that ended in July. But Bank is heading in the other direction. An aggressive expansion campaign -- including six new stores planned this month -- has meant dozens of new manufacturing jobs in Maryland.

An article in The Sun yesterday stated incorrectly that all Leggett department stores in Maryland will now be open on Sundays. The article failed to mention the Leggett store in California, Md., which will not be open Sundays.The Sun regrets the error.Responding to changes in customer shopping habits, the Leggett department store chain is breaking with family tradition and permanently opening its stores on Sundays.The 45-store chain's two Maryland stores -- at Cranberry Mall in Westminster and Francis Scott Key Mall in Frederick -- will be open from noon to 5 p.m. Sundays, beginning July 18."

The Ames Department Stores in Bel Air, Edgewood and Havre de Grace are not among the 10 the discounter plans to close in Maryland.The Connecticut-based company said the Maryland closings were part of a new round of cuts as part of a bankruptcy reorganization that will shut 60 of the 369 Ames stores nationwide.About 620 employees will lose their jobs in Maryland.The closings bring to 373 the number of stores Ames has closed since it filed for Chapter 11 protection in April 1990, listing $1.44 billion in debts.

Value City Department Stores will close all but one of its eight Maryland stores in the next several weeks as part of a restructuring that includes shedding 30 stores across the country. Seven stores have begun liquidation sales and will close when everything is sold, which company officials estimated would take about six weeks. Value City's store on Solomons Island Road in Annapolis is the only one that will remain open in the state. The Glen Burnie store on Ritchie Highway will be converted to a Burlington Coat Factory as part of a deal announced in October by Value City's former owner, Retail Ventures Inc., to sell the leases of up to 24 of its stores.

ELKTON - One morning in September, Pennsylvania State Trooper Tammy Tuck pulled into Cecil County in a Chevrolet pickup truck and set up surveillance outside a discount liquor store near the state line. Tuck and her partner were looking for Pennsylvanians trying to illegally avoid their state's 18 percent liquor tax by buying cheaper Maryland booze and hauling it home. But six hours later, the troopers returned to Harrisburg without making a single arrest. A key reason for the failure: Their cover had been blown days earlier - by the State of Maryland.

London Fog Industries Inc., founded in Baltimore more than 75 years ago and now headquartered in Eldersburg, filed for bankruptcy yesterday and said it will close 115 of its 140 stores nationwide.Company officials said the Chapter 11 filing is an attempt to restructure operations and redefine the company's mission and should not be seen as the beginning of the end of one of the world's best-known clothing labels.The company narrowly escaped a bankruptcy filing in 1995 by restructuring debt and streamlining operations.

American Retail Group Inc., the parent company of Norcross, Ga.-based Uptons department stores, will close the 75-store chain, which has two outlets in Maryland.More than 4,000 people, including the 99 employees of the stores in Columbia and Gaithersburg, will lose their jobs.The stores will close by the end of the year after liquidating their inventory."It's a very competitive industry," American Retail spokeswoman Shira Weissman said yesterday."Our financial performance is not meeting our expectations."

Struggling retailer Service Merchandise Co. Inc., the last catalog-showroom chain in the United States, will close more than a third of its stores in the next three to four months in a restructuring aimed at shrinking debt and recapturing sales, the company said yesterday.The Nashville, Tenn.-based retailer said it will shut down as many as 134 underperforming stores to focus on refining its niche in fine jewelry, gifts and home products at the remaining 213 stores.Service Merchandise, whose sales have been slumping for months as it deals with financing, management and other problems, has stores in 34 states.

Levitz Furniture Inc. will close all five of its Maryland stores as part of a plan to become profitable by shedding outlets and cutting its work force, the Boca Raton, Fla.-based chain said yesterday.The nation's second-largest home furnishings retailer will pull out of Maryland and seven other states, closing 27 stores and laying off 1,000 workers, to focus on stronger markets on both coasts, the company said. Levitz, which will be left with 63 locations in 13 states, has already closed 39 outlets in two rounds since filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in September 1997.

Dick's Clothing & Sporting Goods confirmed yesterday the October opening of its first three Maryland stores -- in White Marsh, Glen Burnie and Hunt Valley -- setting up a battle with entrenched Baltimore retailers for consumer dollars.The privately held company with headquarters in Coraopolis, Pa., near Pittsburgh, declined to disclose its investment but said each warehouse-sized store would take up 60,000 square feet and employ about 125 people, many of them hired locally."The company is in the middle of an aggressive growth stage," said Joe Queri, Dick's vice president of real estate.

Wine is one of the last bastions of old-fashioned retailing. In some ways that's good. In most it's awful.The good part is that a well-run liquor store that specializes in wine can be a place of great personality -- "where everybody knows your name," as the song goes. The owners take a personal interest in customers, make good recommendations and even call customers when an item of interest comes in.The problem is that these stores are rare, especially in Maryland. Out of hundreds of liquor outlets in the state, maybe two dozen offer superior selection and service.

This is a lousy time -- and Maryland is a lousy place -- to be looking for a job. But don't tell Timothy F. Finley.As chief executive of Hampstead-based Jos. A. Bank Clothiers Inc., he is among the small group of Maryland executives who are boosting employment these days.A report released Thursday said that Maryland suffered the second-largest job loss of any state in the 12 months that ended in July. But Bank is heading in the other direction. An aggressive expansion campaign -- including six new stores planned this month -- has meant dozens of new manufacturing jobs in Maryland.

An article in The Sun yesterday stated incorrectly that all Leggett department stores in Maryland will now be open on Sundays. The article failed to mention the Leggett store in California, Md., which will not be open Sundays.The Sun regrets the error.Responding to changes in customer shopping habits, the Leggett department store chain is breaking with family tradition and permanently opening its stores on Sundays.The 45-store chain's two Maryland stores -- at Cranberry Mall in Westminster and Francis Scott Key Mall in Frederick -- will be open from noon to 5 p.m. Sundays beginning July 18."