Sunday, 11 September, 2005 11:40 PM

Mervyn's to close it's stores in Michigan

Mervyn's has announced that they will close all 15 stores in Michigan as well as some in Texas, Utah, California and Colorado.

The retailer has faced steep competition from Kohl's and JC Penney. The problem is that Mervyn's never really has good sales. Kohl's has good deals on Wednesday's, as well as Early Bird and Night Owl specials.

Nearly 1,100 jobs will be lost from the closures. They are expected to begin in 2006. The stores will be stocked through the holidays and then liquidations will begin thereafter. Nationwide, they are cutting 4,800 jobs and 62 of it's stores.

Here in Michigan, the retailer was profitable up until about 1990. Just last year, Mervyn's was sold off by the Target Corporation. Target also sold Marshall Field's to the May Department stores.

Mervyn's has stores in Ann Arbor, Burton, Dearborn, Flint, Lansing, Livonia, Madison Heights, Novi, Okemos, Pontiac, Portage, Utica, Taylor, Warren and Westland. All of these stores were open for 20 years or more.

One of the problems with Mervyn's is their locations. Most of them are not in high-traffic malls. They are standalone stores like the ones in Westland, Novi and Ann Arbor. When you are not attached to a mall, less people will go into your store.

This will raise a big question for the survival of Livonia Mall. It lost Crowley's which was turned into a Value City store. Now it is going to lose another department store, Mervyn's. It's going to be tough for that mall to stay open unless they find someone to fill it's spot.

Kohl's is going to merge as a winner. They are going to have less competition now. Their sales have always been better. We'll see if they decide to make any marketing changes.

I've never really bought anything at Mervyn's. I have shopped at Kohl's recently. I bought some items from the student lounge section at the Northville store. Kohl's has the new Hilary Duff line by Candies.

It's sad to see them go. Who's going to fill their shoes? I find it interesting that Target is continually opening new stores. They sold Mervyn's at a good time to remain profitable in the retail marketplace.

Please keep in mind that Mervyn's is not going out of business completely. They are just closing some of their stores to become profitable and cut costs.

Related Story:

Target Corp. decides to sell Mervyn's, Marshall Field's