Macy's delays rug consolidation

By Cecile B. Corral -- Home Textiles Today, 5/17/2004 12:00:00 AM

NEW YORK —

Federated Department Store's newly formed Macy's Home Store, based here, recently decided to wait an extra eight months to consolidate and structure its area rug division.

The area rug division is the only home store division that has been delayed for consolidation, said Ronnie Taffet, vice president, public relations, Federated Corporate Marketing. The company is already consolidating the divisions of its other product category offerings.

The area rug division's new consolidation deadline is Jan. 31. Initially, the job was to be done by the end of this month. But because of some leasing issues involving the Macy's nameplates being consolidated — Bon-Macy's, Burdines-Macy's, Goldsmith's-Macy's, Lazarus-Macy's, Macy's East, Macy's West and Rich's-Macy's — the company was unable to meet its target date. Also, the company is still exploring how it will shape up its area rug division.

"Not every (Macy's) nameplate runs its area rug business exactly the same. Some of the rug departments are leased and others are partially leased, so it wasn't as easy a transition for us as the rest of the home store," Taffet said. "It will take us longer to make a decision on how we plan to run (the area rug division)."