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June 20, 2005
Field's Watch: Name may stay after merger?
A recent article in the Chicago Tribune provides hope that the Marshall Field's name will remain after the Federated-May merger is completed. According to the article, the Lord & Taylor name may be the one to get the ax instead. We'll see.
Field's likely to keep its nameSource: Chicago Tribune
By Becky Yerak
Tribune staff reporter
Published June 18, 2005The chances that the Marshall Field's name will survive might be better than expected, according to two Wall Street analysts.
When Federated Department Stores Inc. announced plans in February to buy May Department Stores Co., some retail observers said the deal spelled doom for the Field's name, a Chicago-born chain owned by May.
Federated has a track record of changing the names of its regional department stores to Macy's. The May acquisition is expected to close in the third quarter.
Two retail analysts expressed optimism, however, about the future of the Field's name in a Women's Wear Daily report on Friday about the New York flagship of Lord & Taylor, another May asset.
"The L&T banner is not going to be the one that survives," Citibank Smith Barney analyst Deborah Weinswig told the trade publication. "Marshall Field's has been chosen as the one to survive."
Weinswig couldn't be reached Friday to elaborate.
Also in the article, Deutsche Bank analyst Bill Dreher noted Field's "tremendous following."
"I wouldn't expect Federated to move away from that name but rather expand it in the Midwest," he said.
A Federated spokeswoman would not comment on the report. "We've got nothing to say on that right now," she told the Tribune on Friday.
Posted by Tannerman at June 20, 2005 09:56 AM | Categories: Anchors