The Indianapolis Star from Indianapolis, Indiana • Page 24

C-4 THE INDIANAPOLIS STAR- TUESDAY, MAY 17, 19SS Tourister list 4 ,1 HI St nT" -i- mill ti i fl AS! 'W 4 i -vs 1 v.v I WfLJLi iJif 1 iJtntTl LtimvA 2 Tllk4fei fell sfii i 'i-Y -1Ttv Y' BMmtmm iiiiii mmmmmmim I I i SdlM I I I 3 jvc uj STRIKE I i jfcHE- 8i sKI lllliil Continued from Page 1 lected dust in a merchant's storeroom while he and Tourister haggled about conditions of a return. Now, Tourister readily takes back merchandise because it knows it can sell it through its factory outlets and not lose money to a close-out specialist. Factory outlets also have given Tourister more freedom with its ordering. Because of the long wait for delivery on luggage six months or more on overseas orders it takes pretty shrewd guesswork to determine the proper quantity to purchase. Buy too much of a slow seller and you could be stuck with a lot of excess baggage, so to speak.

Buy too little of a hot item and by the time the re-order shows up Imitations have swamped the market. Outlets let Tourister order ample supplies, Smith said. He predicted the outlet concept will grow well beyond its current count of 36 stores, the nearest of which is at Michigan City. To avoid confrontations with its regular retailers. Tourister outlets avoids big cities.

In any event. Smith said Tourister believes the practice to be healthy because It eliminates problems with stale merchandise. "I think it's given them a big advantage," over competitors such as Samsonite, Dillon Read's Cope said of the factory-outlet concept. "It lets them test, the market." The cumulative effect of these actions, said Smith, is that Tourister Is a sounder company. According to Woody Winfee.

editor of Luggage Travelware, Hillenbrand got its act together and better defined the products It wanted to sell. "They have streamlined it profoundly." she said. Tourister became less interested in making a fashion statement, Winfee said, and more interested in giving consumers what they wanted and adding value to its product. Smith said Tourister has no pretensions about being haute couture. That would make It very expensive and limit appeal.

"It's mldpriced luggage for any American," he said. Of the estimated $1.5 billion wholesale market for luggage, about 50 percent of that is in the midprice range where Tourister believes it has carved out a niche. American Tourister's headquarters is in Warren, R.I Nor is Tourister especially in- terested in expanding into for- eign markets. It does sell a line 1 een-agers used to throw jeans into a duffle bag. Now, they're wearing white shirts; and suits and ladies' dresses and want more protection for them." Robert K.

Ermatinger, vice president, Luggage Leather Goods Manufacturers' of America STAR STAFF PHOTO JEFF ATTEBERRY Jackie Copus of Elwood (left) and Thea Parsons of Sheridan picket outside the Firestone plant in Noblesville. 1 pickets JUC1 ige says can't block entry to Firestone plant securities firm, said Tourister remains the "weak sister" among Hillenbrand subsidiaries. "The long-term growth prospects are nominal," said Luton, who believes that Hillenbrand would sell the luggage maker if offered the right price. Fox disagreed, however, saying Hillenbrand has no reason to sell Tourister now that it has turned it around and has it generating cash. Cope said Tourister is an interesting case for Hillenbrand because it's the only one of the parent's subsidiaries that isn't a clear market leader.

It also is the only one involved in a cyclical industry. At the Luggage' Leather Goods Manufacturers' of America, a futurologist predicted better times ahead for hard-sided of luggage in Japan, but Europe is difficult to crack because it already has several well-established lines (including Samsonite), and shipping luggage over-; seas can be expensive because it weighs so little but takes up a relatively large amount of space. Tourister has expanded into building special cases for binoculars and medical equipment and instruments. That now accounts for about 10 percent of the company's revenues. Smith said.

Analyst's opinions on Tourister remain divided. At McDonald a Cleveland securities firm, analyst Douglas A. Fox said he has watched for signs of weakness in the wake of this year's decline in retail activity but hasn't seen it Impact Tourister. "Apparently this has not carried over to the luggage sector," Fox said. But Joel D.

Luton, of Rauscher Pierce Refnes. a Dallas are offered through the Department of Public Welfare and the Indiana Department of Employment and Training Services. During the first six months of the program, 15,600 food-stamp recipients Were interviewed by IMPACT staff and approximately 13.000 were referred to employment and training activities. Through the six-month period, the program, which receives state and federal money, has cost $1.8 million. "We have found that most people on public assistance want to work if given the opportunity," Blinzinger said.

"The success that IMPACT has already achieved reinforces this belief." Food-stamp program helps 6,000 Hoosiers find work SOME REM GOOD NEIGHBORS LIVE JUST DOWN THE ROAD We're Providence Savings, a good, solid neighbor for the past 30 years, in the highly competitive Washington, D.C. area. Now, we'd like to be part of your life, too. When you save by mail with Providence, you have the best of both worlds-high interest available in Eastern cities, and the careful, personalized service you have a right to expect from your neighborhood bank or savings institution. ASSOCIATED PRESS Approximately 6,000 Hoosiers have found work through a new program that offers employment counseling and assistance to food-stamp recipients, state welfare officials said Monday.

Welfare Administrator Donald L. Blinzinger estimated that as much as $3.6 million would be saved on an annual basis by the reduction that has occurred so far in the number of food-stamp recipients. Since October, the Indiana Manpower Placement and Comprehensive Training, or IMPACT, program has offered employment and training programs to food-stamp recipients. The services 2 INC. By SUSAN HEADDEN STAR STAFF WRITER A Hamilton County judge ordered 600 striking workers at Firestone Industrial Products Co.

on Monday to stop blocking the entrance of the Noblesville plant to salaried workers. The temporary restraining order was granted by Superior Court Judge Jerry M. Barr on the second day of the six-state strike of the United Rubber Workers. It was called when contract talks stalled. In effect until 2 p.m.

Friday, the order prohibits the union from posting more than three workers near the main gate. Salaried workers will be escorted by police as they arrive at the plant at 7 a.m. this morning. Firestone officials in Noblesville could not be reached for comment. No new talks were scheduled, and a security guard said the facility was virtually empty and quiet at 4 p.m.

Earlier In the day, police apprehended a worker for carrying a rifle and appearing drunk as he approached the plant. Police Chief David Crose said Noblesville resident Bobby Cox was arrested for public intoxication. Also, a local television station filmed a striker throwing hot coffee in the face of a worker trying to cross the line. Crose said the incident was not reported to plice. He said the police were "observing and patrolling the area." URW Local 138 President WXIN "Teen-agers 'used to throw jeans Into a duffle bag," said Robert K.

Ermatinger, executive vice president of the trade association. "Now, they're wearing white shirts and suits and ladies' dresses and want more prq-tection for them." Y''i; And they'll get it, If the Tourister gorilla's actions are any evidence of the luggage's durability. The new gorilla actually Is Tofly Viveiros, a comedian from picked to play the role during a nationwide talent search. Sporting a $20,000 specially made suit, the gorilla appears trade shows, shopping mall openings and other events tout ing the magic of Tourister. He's about the last vestige of the old sales promotion program Jthat heavily relied on televisionji These days, Smith said, pr.lnt ads are becoming common.

information about: IRA accounts Joint, with right of survivorship Custodial or Trustee Sent quarterly Sent monthly State Zip Soc Sec Term Halt Annual YiHd Yr. 7.70 8.00 3Yr. 8.00 8.33 5 Yr.l 8.25 I Wk BROWNING INVESTMENTS, Charlie Gibson said the union members were protesting provisions for pensions and insurance proposed in the contract replacing the one that expired April 20. And he said the Noblesville workers have complaints of their own. "In 1981 we took concessions under the threat of plant closing.

Then in 1985 we extended the concessions for three more years. But now the company is profitable again and that Is reflected in executives' pay and big bonuses. And now they want to extend concession for three more years." Gibson said. In previous contracts, Gibson said, the workers gave back two holidays, a week of vacation, half of their cost-of-living allowance. $1.40 a week in pay and a guarantee of sub-pay from the company (separate from unemployment compensation) in case they were laid off.

The average worker at the Noblesville plant, which makes molded rubber products, makes about $9 an hour. "We've worked with this company and gone through some really rough times and now that things are good we want to share in it," Gibson said. He said a give-back of execu tive bonuses would be "a step in the right direction." The strike affects about 4,700 URW members at Fire stone plants in Noblesville; Ak ron, Ohio; Des Moines, Iowa; Decatur, Russellville, and Oklahoma City. discussions with the FCC, chances for that waiver and keeping the radio station are good. The company's first radio station was in Indianapolis.

And because of those roots, It wanted its first television station to be here as well, Smulyan said, i But Emmis' attempts to buy a television station have not been without setbacks. The company bid for bankrupt WTTV (Channel 4) last year but was rejected in favor of a bid from E.M. Warburg Pincus a New York venture capital firm. Warburg Pincus backed out and Emmis bid again in February. But then WTTV reached a "tentative sales agreement" with Capitol Broadcasting Co.

of Raleigh, N.C. Emmis owns six other radio stations and is awaiting final approval from the FCC on a $121.5 million deal for five NBC radio stations, including WNBC in New York. Hittes subject to change. Substantial penalty for early withdrawal. Providence offers a valuable extra too a thirty year record, of strength and soundness.

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Reproduction Centers Fidelity Plaza North Meridian at 1 16th Street iD am opening would like further Certificates with a term of Money market accounts The new account should be: I Individual Corporate IRA: My birthday I My interest should be: I Allowed to grow in the account Name(s) I I Street Address City Daytime Phone: My initial deposit is: Signature(s): TO com Continued from Page 1 for 1988. However, Young said $700,000 of that short fall will be erased by midyear far ahead of schedule. Furthermore, the station showed a 63 percent Increase in advertising sales for the first quarter of 1988 compared to the same period last year. "Based upon our current pacing for the second quarter, there is no reason to believe the strong revenues won't continue," Young said. Emmis, which owns WENS- FM (97.1), an Indianapolis radio station, will have to secure a waiver from the Federal Communications Commission before it can purchase WXIN.

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