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

DATE: TUESDAY, April 20, 1993                   TAG: 9304200081
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

SEARS PLANS TO CLOSE TELECATALOG CENTER IN JUNE

Also, the manager of the Sears, Roebuck and Co. retail store at Roanoke's Valley View Mall and six supervisory-staff members have accepted early retirement offers.

Both decisions are related to a restructuring announced in January by Chicago-based Sears Merchandise Group.

Some 1,600 employees of the telecatalog center, most of them part-time workers, were notified of the closing date late last week, said Human Resources Manager Charlsie Pafford.

Federal law requires that employees be told of a company's closing at least 60 days in advance.

Retail-store supervisors who plan early retirement have until Thursday to rescind their decisions, but manager Joe Sears, who will mark 30 years with the company in August, said he did not expect to change his mind.

He said those retiring will leave by Dec. 31, based on when replacements are hired.

Sears said he understands that the store's management structure will remain the same, which means the jobs will be filled.

He said there are "some excellent candidates" for the supervisory jobs already working at the store. But, he said he expects the company also to hire from outside as part of its changing direction.

Persons who take the early retirement offer will get five years added to their service time for purposes of computing their pensions, plus they will be paid regular salaries for a year after they leave.

The company's restructuring, which included an end to its catalog business, is designed to trim 16,000 full-time and 34,000 part-time positions from its ranks of 349,400 employees.

The announced close of the catalog division has actually boosted business for it, especially since the company reduced by 30 percent the price of many catalog items.

Because of the increase in orders, the Roanoke center still is hiring workers. Pafford said workers especially are needed for Thursday through Sunday hours.

A spokeswoman for the Sears centers nationally said more than 1 million calls are coming in daily, twice the calls the centers generally got on the busiest days.

Sears is attempting to sell the Roanoke center. Officials said there still are hopes that a new telemarketing operator can be found or that Sears might find another use for it.