Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, June 6, 1995 TAG: 9506060124
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By F.J. GALLAGHER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Kmart Corp., the nation's second-largest retailer, said Monday it has named Floyd Hall, a retailing executive with extensive experience, to the position, calling him an "entrepreneurial, innovative and team-oriented manager."
Hall replaces former Chairman Joseph Antonini, who resigned March 20 in the face of mounting pressures from stockholders and board members when he failed to turn around the company's financial prospects fast enough. Antonini had been with the corporation for 31 years.
Kmart informed store managers of the decision via closed-circuit satellite television Monday afternoon. Roanoke-area Kmart managers were cautious with their comments but seemed to view Hall's hiring as a step forward.
"I'm sure he'll do well," said Mike Puckett, general manager of the company's store on Hershberger Road. "But we'll just have to wait and see how things go."
Most recently, Hall was chairman and CEO of The Museum Corp., an international company that specializes in selling museum reproductions.
The 68-year-old Hall's resume also includes stints as chairman and CEO of national bookstore chain B. Dalton Bookseller from 1974 to 1981, and of Target Stores, another discount chain, from 1981 to 1984. Under Hall's guidance, Target added 108 stores, becoming, along with Wal-Mart, one of Kmart's main competitors.
"Having been a retailer my entire career and a competitor of Kmart in the past, I am excited about the opportunity to lead one of the world's largest and best-known retail companies," Hall said in a statement released by the company. "Kmart faces many challenges ahead, but it also has many strengths, including a terrific group of executives and associates."
Thursday, Kmart eliminated some 5,800 of those associates, announcing that 72 stores do not meet the company's standards for sales and profits. Those stores will be closed beginning in late August. None is in Virginia.
In late 1994 and early 1995, Kmart closed 110 stores, in addition to closing, consolidating or moving 120 outlets in early 1994. The company reported a $28 million loss in this year's first quarter.
Kmart currently operates 2,238 stores in all 50 states, Guam, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, including three in Roanoke County.
"We never had any fear of closing," Puckett said. "We've been very successful since the day we opened," in 1983.
An employee at Salem's Kmart with 19 years of experience said she never feared for her job.
"Everybody here felt secure," she said, leaning on the customer service desk. "I haven't heard any comments, and I felt pretty secure."
Carol Marshall, 30, of Craig County worked at the Salem Kmart eight years ago and shops there still.
"I started shopping at Wal-Mart" when its Salem store opened, she said, "but now their prices are higher, so I'm coming back to Kmart. Now I shop here more than when I used to work here."
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
950606 STORY kmart 6.06.b TOPIC Ex-competito KEYWORDK AUTHOR:f.j.gallag06/06/95 6
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