8 home stores to close in Eddie Bauer cutback

By Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 5/5/2003 12:00:00 AM

REDMOND, WA —

REDMOND, WA Eddie Bauer will close 60 underperforming stores, including eight free-standing home stores or multi-concept formats with home furnishings and apparel in one unit.

Eddie Bauer, which had home textiles sales of $173 million and ranked No. 20 on Home Textiles Today's ranking of retail giants for 2001, operates 32 multi-concept formats and will close six of these that include home. Two free standing home stores also will close. In total, the company operated 45 stores with home furnishings. Overall, there are 13 free-standing home stores.

Home stores slated for closure include San Francisco, Westport, CT; Skokie, Il; Paramus, NJ; West Nyack, NY; Beachwood, OH; Columbus, OH; and Germantown, TN.

The closings are part of a multi-phase reorganization process undertaken by the division's parent company The Spiegel Group which is operating under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The stores will remain open pending approval of a store closing plan by the bankruptcy court, and thereafter on a store by store basis.