PENNEY’S SHEDS ECKERD/2 THE CRUNCH ON SALES CLERKS/2 WWDWomen’s Wear Daily • The Retailers’TUESDAY Daily Newspaper • April 6, 2004 • $2.00 Ready-to-Wear/Textiles This Magic Moment NEW YORK — Fairy tales can come true — and it doesn’t depend on Prince Charming. Consider this golden confection in sequined silk tulle from Oscar de la Renta, worn with a Lara Bohinc 107 bracelet, photographed at Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s new restaurant, Spice Market. For more, see pages 4 and 5. Y DAVID YASSKY; STYLED BY BOBBI QUEEN AND BROOKE MAGNAGHI STYLED BY YASSKY; Y DAVID AH MARTIN AGENCY; PRODUCTION B AGENCY; AH MARTIN TS/DEBOR S AT JUMP; HAIR BY DANNY RICKET JUMP; HAIR BY S AT A/NEXT; MAKEUP BY MIZU FOR BOBBI BROWN COSMETIC MAKEUP BY A/NEXT; PHOTO BY DAVID TURNER; MODEL: ANNA OSCEOL DAVID PHOTO BY 2 WWD, TUESDAY, APRIL 6, 2004 WWDTUESDAY Penney’s Jettisons Eckerd Ready-to-Wear/Textiles GENERAL By Ross Tucker FASHION: Being moody can be a good thing, especially when it comes to NEW YORK — The J.C. Penney 4 the glamorous mix of drama and elegance. Co. Inc. has finally cut loose the Almost a third of working Americans living in poverty hold retail jobs, which Eckerd albatross. 2 is an indicator of the poor state of this employment sector. Here’s a report. On Monday, the Plano, Tex.- based department store retailer J.C. Penney has finally sold its troubled Eckerd drugstore unit to Canadian said it had reached agreements 2 pharmacy specialist Jean Coutu Group and CVS Corp. for $4.53 billion. with Canadian pharmacy spe- A World Trade Organization report showed China’s imports last year grew cialist The Jean Coutu Group 13 at a faster pace than its exports. Inc. and CVS Corp. to sell its be- leaguered Eckerd drugstore op- READY-TO-WEAR: Two pioneering African-American models talk about life erations for $4.53 billion in cash. 6 during and after their runway careers. For Jean Coutu, the deal TEXTILES: The recent Interstoff Asia show featured a push by the Association makes for a dramatic expansion of Southeast Asian Nations, which hopes to establish itself as a trading block. of its U.S. presence, a desire the 10 company made known in Decem- Joel Horowitz, Tommy Hilfiger Corp.’s executive chairman, will stay in that ber 2003 when it said it was in- 11 role for at least another year. terested in acquiring Eckerd. For Woonsocket, R.I.-based the company, CVS will now be EYE: British rapper Mike Skinner wants it known that he is not a crook; Under terms of the deal, Coutu CVS, the deal makes the compa- able to fill approximately 13 per- Brazilian Olympic equestrian Rodrigo Pessoa on saddles and speed. picked up 1,539 Eckerd drug- ny the new king of the mountain. cent of the nation’s prescriptions. 16 stores and support facilities in 13 CVS will acquire 1,260 Eckerd Allen Questrom, Penney’s Classified Advertisements........................................................................15 Northeast and mid-Atlantic states stores (located primarily in the chairman and chief executive of- as well as Eckerd’s Florida head- southern U.S.), Eckerd’s $1 bil- ficer, said in a statement that the To e-mail reporters and editors at WWD, the address is quarters, for $2.38 billion. Accord- lion mail order and pharmacy “sale will allow J.C. Penney to [email protected], using the individual's name. ing to Coutu, once the agreement benefits management business focus entirely on our core de- WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK OF FAIRCHILD PUBLICATIONS, INC. COPYRIGHT ©2004 is completed, the company will and three distribution centers for partment store and catalogue- FAIRCHILD PUBLICATIONS, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. PRINTED IN THE U.S.A. VOLUME 187, NO. 71. WWD (ISSN # 0149-5380) is published daily except Saturdays, Sundays and holidays, with one additional become the fourth-largest drug- a total price tag of $2.15 billion. Internet business.” Questrom issue in January, May, June and November; two additional issues in February, April, September, October and December; and three store chain in North America, All told, the company will op- went on to say that the compa- additional issues in March and August, by Fairchild Publications, Inc., a subsidiary of Advance Publications, Inc. PRINCIPAL OFFICE: 7 with 2,196 stores. Currently, the erate more than 5,000 stores in 36 ny’s board of directors intends to West 34th Street, New York, NY 10001. Shared Services provided by Advance Magazine Publishers Inc.: S.I. Newhouse, Jr., Chairman; Steven T. Florio, Vice Chairman; Charles H. Townsend, C.O.O.; John W. Bellando, Executive Vice-President and C.F.O.; Jill Bright, company’s U.S. presence is rele- states with combined revenues of use the anticipated $3.5 billion Executive Vice-President_Human Resources; John Buese, Executive Vice-President_ Chief Information Officer; David Orlin, Senior gated to its 330-store Brooks $33 billion, making it the largest aftertax cash proceeds from the Vice-President_Strategic Sourcing; Robert Bennis, Senior Vice-President_Real Estate; David B. Chemidlin, Senior Vice- nameplate, located in seven pharmacy retailer in America. sale “for an appropriate mix of President_General Manager, Advance Magazine Group Shared Services Center. 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By Sharon Edelson For clothing stores, the hourly Center for Justice that calculated WOMEN’S WEAR DAILY IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR LOSS, DAMAGE, OR ANY OTHER INJURY TO UNSOLICITED mean wage was $8.45, with an an- if Wal-Mart raised the wages of MANUSCRIPTS, UNSOLICITED ART WORK (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, DRAWINGS, PHOTOGRAPHS, AND NEW YORK — It’s been a cruel nual mean wage of $17,570. all U.S. workers by $2 an hour TRANSPARENCIES), OR ANY OTHER UNSOLICITED MATERIALS. THOSE SUBMITTING MANUSCRIPTS, PHOTOGRAPHS, ART WORK, OR OTHER MATERIALS FOR CONSIDERATION SHOULD NOT SEND ORIGINALS, UNLESS SPECIFICALLY REQUESTED season for sales associates. In February 2004, the U.S. De- the impact on its prices would be TO DO SO BY WWD IN WRITING. MANUSCRIPTS, PHOTOGRAPHS, AND OTHER MATERIALS SUBMITTED MUST BE In addition to low salaries, de- partment of Health and Human about 1 cent for every dollar,” ACCOMPANIED BY A SELF-ADDRESSED OVERNIGHT-DELIVERY RETURN ENVELOPE, POSTAGE PREPAID. partment stores and mass mer- Services defined poverty level as she said. chants have been slashing bene- $18,850 for a family of four. Wal-Mart pays a price for fits and employee-based pro- Low pay and long hours have turnover, said Martels, who esti- grams in the face of rising health made it difficult for employees to mated the cost per employee, In Brief insurance costs and an intensely remain loyal to any retailer. Wal- which includes interviewing, competitive retail environment. Mart said its turnover rate is less training, orientation, advertising According to a study by Colum- than 50 percent, however experts and marketing at $1,950. He esti- ● GERMAN DEBUT: Chloé is saying Guten Tag to Germany. The bia University’s Institute on Edu- such as Fred Martels, a consumer mated the total direct cost of Paris-based fashion house said Monday it would open a 750- cation and the Economy, the and employee loyalty expert and turnover to the company at $1.4 square-foot boutique in Munich at 22 Maximilianstrasse at the plight of this group is dismal: president of People Solution billion a year. Martels said em- end of June. The boutique, Chloé’s first in Germany, will carry Almost one-third of working Strategies in St. Louis, put it clos- ployee loyalty and customer loy- ready-to-wear and accessories, with an emphasis on handbags Americans now living in poverty er to 55 percent. alty go hand in hand. and shoes. The decor, under the direction of designer Phoebe hold retail jobs. Annette Bernhardt, Ph.D., a Loyalty has suffered through- Philo, will be modeled after the London flagship that bowed last The hourly mean wage for de- sociologist and labor economist out the industry. At Sears, for ex- year on Sloane Street. Chloé operates eight retail locations world- partment store sales associates in focused on low wage work at the ample, the average worker in 1990 wide.