home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
- BUSINESS, Page 49Business NotesRETAILINGBack on The Rack
-
-
- Like a spendthrift consumer with too many credit cards, R.H.
- Macy went on a wild shopping spree in the 1980s. But after
- bingeing on several ill-timed and richly priced acquisitions,
- including two department-store chains that cost $1.1 billion,
- the 134-year-old New York City retailer found itself deep in
- debt, mired in an industry-wide slump and unable to pay its
- bills. The day of reckoning arrived last week when Macy's was
- forced to file for bankruptcy after one of its major creditors
- rejected a proposed buyout by CBS chairman Lawrence Tisch.
-
- With the slate wiped clean, suppliers who were reluctant
- to extend credit are shipping merchandise again, and banks that
- refused loans are opening their purse strings. In negotiating to
- reduce its $5.3 billion debt load, the big retailer is expected
- to close some of its 251 stores, which include Bullock's and I.
- Magnin. Coincidentally, Macy's filing came just one week before
- Allied and Federated stores were to emerge from the largest
- bankruptcy in the industry's history.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-