Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: FRIDAY, March 23, 1990                   TAG: 9003232068
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B6   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

SIDNEY'S ENDS ITS CHARGE CARD

The chain of women's apparel shops will continue to accept Visa, MasterCard, American Express and Discover cards.

Existing account balances will be transferred to a Visa card at Dominion Bank. Brenda McDaniel, spokeswoman for the bank, said people who already have Visa cards through Dominion have the option of transferring a Sidney's account to their existing cards.

She said acquisition of the accounts gave Dominion an opportunity to expand its credit-card base.

Sidney Weinstein, president of Sidney's, said it's a trend in the industry to get out of the credit-card business. He said banking is a business best left to banks.

Operating an independent store charge program is expensive, Weinstein said. Costs include credit losses, program administration and loss of the use of the money while balances are pending.

At one time, only stores offered credit card plans, Weinstein said. Entertainment cards and bank cards were introduced about 30 years ago.