NRDC to Acquire Fortunoff

According to Finlay\'\'s 2006 Annual Report, they operate 49 Lord and Taylor jewelry departments. Finlay has worked the leased departments since L and T was owned by May Company in 1978. If each of these departments at least met the company department average of $917,000 per year, that\'\'s a loss of $44,933,000 in annual sales. Now I know a chunk of that goes to the host store, but that\'\'s still a substantial loss of income. In previous conference calls Finlay had called out Lord and Taylor (along with Bloomingdale\'\'s) as one of their best performers, and stated that they were focusing on growing that luxury department store area. Finlay has even done national advertising for Lord and Taylor (magazine ads for Le Vian tanzanite). Having L and T as a host store meant Finlay could showcase high-end watch brands and designer jewelry, as well as use their consignment strategy for high-ticket couture pieces, leading me to believe that even if they weren\'\'t generating high margins, the L and T departments should have higher sales than Macy\'\'s or Bon-Ton. But it\'\'s like I said before: This is a big win for Lord and Taylor, who will be further on the road to a \"differentiated\" department store with revitalized jewelry and home goods departments. \"Welcome to Fortunoff, at Lord and Taylor!\" It looks like the Bailey\'\'s purchase might have been at the right time after all!

According to Finlay''s 2006 Annual Report, they operate 49 Lord and Taylor jewelry departments. Finlay has worked the leased departments since L and T was owned by May Company in 1978. If each of these departments at least met the company department average of $917,000 per year, that''s a loss of $44,933,000 in annual sales. Now I know a chunk of that goes to the host store, but that''s still a substantial loss of income. In previous conference calls Finlay had called out Lord and Taylor (along with Bloomingdale''s) as one of their best performers, and stated that they were focusing on growing that luxury department store area. Finlay has even done national advertising for Lord and Taylor (magazine ads for Le Vian tanzanite). Having L and T as a host store meant Finlay could showcase high-end watch brands and designer jewelry, as well as use their consignment strategy for high-ticket couture pieces, leading me to believe that even if they weren''t generating high margins, the L and T departments should have higher sales than Macy''s or Bon-Ton. But it''s like I said before: This is a big win for Lord and Taylor, who will be further on the road to a "differentiated" department store with revitalized jewelry and home goods departments. "Welcome to Fortunoff, at Lord and Taylor!" It looks like the Bailey''s purchase might have been at the right time after all!