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

DATE: THURSDAY, October 14, 1993                   TAG: 9310140151
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: From New York Times and staff reports
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

WOOLWORTH TO SHUT 970 STORES

Woolworth Corp. said Wednesday it plans to eliminate 13,000 jobs and close 970 stores, including half of its remaining five-and-dimes, in what would be the largest, most costly reorganization in the retailer's 114-year-history.

The retrenchment will take place over several months and will include 400 of the discount stores and 330 Kinney shoe stores. The moves will further transform Woolworth from its Main Street dime-store origins into a specialty retailing conglomerate.

Woolworth said about 250 of the stores will be converted to other formats such as Foot Locker, Woolworth's highly successful athletic shoe and apparel chain, or the Bargain Shop, its chain of low-price apparel and household merchandise stores in Canada.

The company has 11 stores in the Roanoke Valley, including Woolworth stores at Towers Shopping Center and in downtown Roanoke, and specialty shops at Tanglewood and Valley View malls. It also operates stores in Christiansburg, Martinsville, Bristol and Lynchburg.

The fate of the stores will be disclosed at mid-morning today. Woolworth said late Wednesday it still was informing managers of the affected stores.

Woolworth will cut 10,000 jobs in the United States and 3,000 in Canada, or 9 percent of its work force of 143,000.

"They've taken the hard decision to give up the core business that gave Woolworth its name," said Alan G. Millstein, editor of the Fashion Network Report. "The old-fashioned five-and-dime will be a memory."

Woolworth said the stores to be shuttered had contributed 9 percent of the company's total revenue of $4.42 billion in the first half of the year. They lost $36 million in that period, the same amount they lost in all of 1992.

Shares of Woolworth rose 25 cents Wednesday on the New York Stock Exchange, to $26.125.

While about 450 five-and-dime stores will stay in business, most analysts expect they, too, will be tallying final receipts soon.

"I'd not be surprised if within three years, Woolworth will not have a Woolworth," said Isaac Lagnado, principal of Tactical Retail Solutions, a retail consulting firm.

In trying to transform itself, Woolworth has spawned several specialty chains, including Champs Sports, a sporting goods store; Northern Reflections, a women's outdoor apparel chain; and the highly profitable Foot Locker.

by CNB