article on lease of ex meryns properties

Do we know if any of these where some of the 32 MDT Hold in their portfolio ? (old article know its prolly been posted)



One retailer’s demise fuels another’s growth. The bankruptcy liquidation of the California-based Mervyn’s department store chain provided competitor Kohl’s Department Stores with a chance to increase its presence in the Golden State by one-third.

Kohl’s, the Wisconsin-based chain, opened 37 stores Wednesday, 35 of which are former Mervyn’s stores. And 30 of those are located in California, increasing Kohl’s total number of California stores by 33%, up to 121.

Kohl’s acquired the former Mervyn’s stores through the chain’s bankruptcy, which Mervyn’s launched in July 2008 with plans to shed just a handful of unprofitable locations from its 177-store chain. However, in October 2008, the retailer dropped its plans to reorganize and instead chose to liquidate. Mervyn’s said the financial fixes it attempted didn’t return it to profitability. In December, Kohl’s picked up the leases to 31 sites under a $6.25 million deal that also handed Forever 21 Inc., the seller of designer knockoffs, 15 former Mervyn’s leases.

The fourth-largest U.S. department-store chain has been one of the rare retailers to expand amid a recession that’s seen a major drop in consumer spending and has spurred many retailers to liquidate. In addition to the 37 stores opening today, the chain opened another 19 earlier this year. According to Bloomberg, the mid-priced chain is poised to profit from its fellow retailers’ struggles, gathering up cash in order to snatch up stores that rivals are shedding in and out of bankruptcy. Not only does this strategy allow Kohl’s to open in parts of the country it may otherwise not have, it also saves the chain money. Chief Executive and Chairman Kevin Mansell said it costs $11 million to open a brand-new store, versus the $7 million it costs to convert a Mervyn’s store into a Kohl’s store.