Little loyalty left for department stores

WASHINGTON, Dec. 24 (UPI) -- Federated Department Stores, owner of Macy's and Bloomingdale's, bought May Co., the owner of several chains, but many U.S. consumers won't miss the chains.

Nine regional department stores whose names defined communities for most of the 20th century including: Kaufmann's, Famous-Barr, Meier & Frank, Hecht's, Filene's, Robinson-May, Foley's, Meier & Frank, Marshall Field's and Strawbridge's will lose their identity next fall.

Federated will turn almost 400 of the 487 May stores into Macy's, but the 54 Lord & Taylor stores -- which may be sold -- will keep their name. Federated plans to cut 6,200 jobs and sell or close 80 stores in malls where there is overlap between the chains.

However, many shoppers told the New York Times that the regional department stores had lost their local identities long ago, along with their customers' loyalty.

The regional department store's one-stop shopping structure started to lose traction when competitors began compete one department at a time, until there was little left for the department store to call its own except clothing, and most of the department stores carried similar clothing lines.