ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Thursday, January 18, 1996 TAG: 9601180069
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
May to let Payless ShoeSource go
ST. LOUIS - May Department Stores Co. said it will spin off its Payless ShoeSource Inc. and close or move 450 of the chain's shoe stores, allowing it to focus on its more profitable department store business.
The operator of Lord & Taylor, Hecht's and Foley's department stores said competition from discount retailers like Wal-Mart has squeezed sales and earnings at Payless, making it less profitable than May's far-flung department store empire. Payless operates 4,557 discount stores in the United States, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
- Bloomberg Business News
Crestar testing program for deaf
RICHMOND - Crestar Bank is testing a program to give better service to deaf customers.
The bank is lending captioned videotapes on banking and investment opportunities, providing customer-service tips in its newsletter and meeting with deaf groups to better understand their needs. The program will last six months.
The first tape the bank is offering covers basic banking services, such as setting up checking and savings accounts. Another tape, providing information on investing, will be ready by March, bank official Meg O'Connell said.
- Associated Press
Harris Teeter Brookside to close
The Harris Teeter supermarket at Brookside Plaza, 6619 Williamson Road in Roanoke, will close Feb. 6, the company said Wednesday.
Ruth Kinzey, manager of corporate communications for the Matthews, N.C.-based grocery chain, said no employees will be laid off. They will be placed in other stores or in regional or corporate positions, she said.
Kinzey said the chain typically closes stores that either are outdated or are not conveniently located for customers.
Harris Teeter operates four other stores in the Roanoke Valley, and in December announced plans to open another on Brambleton Avenue in spring 1997.
- Staff report
New plant spurs trade trip to Japan
CHESAPEAKE - Gov. George Allen said Wednesday another Japanese manufacturer will make its home in Virginia and he plans a trade mission this year to Japan.
The advent of a $100 million Yupo Corp. synthetic paper plant in Chesapeake represented the state's first major industrial success of 1996. It will be the state's 67th Japanese industry.
The governor said he will most likely go to Japan this spring. He also said he may include South Korea in the trip, although details are not final.
Yupo is a plastic-like synthetic paper made by Oji-Yuka Synthetic Paper Co. Ltd. of Tokyo. The Kimberly-Clark Corp. sells the product - used for maps, durable shipping and packaging labels and weather-resistant signs - under the Kimdura label.
The plant, which will be able to produce 10,000 metric tons a year, will employ about 100 workers. Construction is to begin in June, with production starting in 1998, said Toshiaki Hida, Yupo's president.
- Associated Press
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