The Commercial Appeal from Memphis, Tennessee • 15

MEMPHIS TUESDAY NOVEMBER 12 1991 TkE Commercial Appeal B3 RETAILING AIRLINES NW maintenance bases are confirmed for Minn Abercrombie Fitch picks Oak Court site maintenance base in Duluth and an engine overhaul facility in Hibbing Northwest based in suburban Minneapolis said it was scrapping the Minnesota project Oct 14 citing the uncertainty of a financing package that had been on the table since May The move By Roland Klose The Commercial Appeal After keeping Minnesota' officials guessing for the past month Northwest Airlines Inc said Monday it would move forward with plans to construct maintenance facilities in its home state The decision came after weeks of intense negotiations as Minnesota state officials scrambled to restore a $740 million financing package to induce Northwest to build an Airbus A320 to comment Monday The Limited based in Columbus Ohio acquired 25 Abercrombie Fitch stores in 1988 from Sporting Goods The chain has grown to 36 stores in major UA markets with another three stores scheduled to open by the The first Tennessee end of the Northwest hits Midway snag By Laurel Campbell The Commercial Appeal Abercrombie Fitch is slated to its first Memphis store next year in Court Mall Kathy Smith Oak Court Mall marketing director said the deal was completed last week by the O'Connor Group which owns and manages the mall Negotiations have been conducted for at least 18 months Abercrombie Fitch is expected to locate in 12000 square feet on the upper level of the mall behind the Disney Store The store will probably open in late 1992 Abercrombie Fitch joins two other stores Rolling Pin gourmet kitchenware and Video Concepts movies on Oak list of 1992 openings By the end of next year the mall will be about 1 percent leased Ms Smith said A spokesman for the Limited Inc Abercrombie Fitch division declined REGULATIONS Ruling of no dumping opens vistas to Brother By Jerome Obermark Th Commercial Appeal The UA Commerce Department has ruled that Brother Industries Ltd is not circumventing anti-dumping duties on parts manufactured abroad and shipped to its plant in Bartlett where -portable electric typewriters are put together was a key victory for said William Conner manager of materials and engineering for Brother Industries (UAA) Inc Monday (the ruling) legitimizes us as part of the UA manufacturing The Bartlett plant opened in June 1987 with 80 employees assembling electronic typewriters It has grown steadily It now employs 600 and produces portable electronic typewriters and- word processors sold in North America Europe and Japan The Commerce Department dismissed the complaint brought by Smith Corona Corp which accused Brother Industries Ltd of circumventing antidumping duties by shipping components from Japan to Bartlett and characterizing the final products as American-made However Lee Thompson chairman of Smith Corona in New Canaan Conn said Monday the ruling confer any change in the status of Brother Bartlett plant which he said only an assembly Smith Corona plans to appeal the latest ruling immediately to the Court of International Trade Thompson said Monday In addition he said Smith Corona also will work with Congress to clarity language in the 1988 Omnibus Trade Bill relevent to the dispute Dumping is the practice of selling ECONOMY By Roland Klose Ths Commercial Appeal Northwest Airlines Inc said Monday its proposed acquisition of Chicago-based Midway Airlines has run into problems The announcement means the proposed combination of the two airlines could be in jeopardy although Northwest has already snared the smaller most valuable asset its 21 gates at Midway Airport in southwest Chicago against a sample in the Brother Industries some components and buys from various worldwide sources including some from UA vendors Industries is truly becoming a worldwide Conner said To be a global manufacturer a worldwide sourcing of parts to produce a quality product that American consumers expect for a price he is willing to The Bartlett plant operations generated about $100 million in sales last year he said The company anticipates a 20 percent increase in sales and a 10 percent gain in employment in 1992 Plans also call for producing an additional product or products there next year but details are not available yet REAL ESTATE (MAC) which balked at providing million of its original $390 million cc mitment The apparent availability of the Please see NW Page B8 Northwest last month won a bankruptcy approval to acquire Midway's assets and routes in a deal valued at $1747 million after outbidding Dallas-based Southwest Airlines The proposed acquisition which would spell the end of Midway is part of a wave of airline industry consolidations following record industry losses in 1990 that pushed four airlines into bankruptcy and helped drive Eastern Airlines out of business Northwest continues to negotiate a Please see MIDWAY Page B8 By Karan Pulfer Focht Ltd factory in Bartlett growth projection was not tied to this decision but it makes us more sure that it will come Conner said Conner said the Bartlett facility will serve all the Americas and export product to Europe and Japan Facturlng pi dom Ireland King- Malaysia and Japan Other product lines include sewing machines office machines fax machines and consumer products Smith Corona a traditional American manufacturer of typewriters has shifted much of its manufacturing to Singapore more cost-conscious said Andy Gro-veman Belz senior vice president marketing and administration Outlet centers house stores owned by manufacturers that sell their brand name goods at discounts of 20 percent to 70 percent "Outlet centers are generally recession- and inflation-proof because people know they can always find good Groveman said malls work to stretch the shoppers dollars and that makes them more Groveman said the Las Vegas center should experience the same success of Belz's Orlando complex because most vacationers like to shop an outlet mall in a tourist destination has worked quite well for us because we have found that even though many people are on vacation they still like to Groveman said In addition to its Las Vegas venture Belz signed an agreement with the Howard Group a Florida-based real estate development company to lease and manage the 80000-square-foot Silver Sands Factory Outlet Center a strip showing center in South Walton rla adjacent to Sandestln Beach Resort IN BUSINESS Toyota will buy more parts in the US DETROIT Toyota Motor Corp has oined other Japanese automakers that lan to buy more parts from A suppliers Toyota said Sunday in Japan it would ncrease to SS billion its purchases from UA suppliers for American and Japanese assembly plants by mid-1994 That's up from $11 billion in 1988 when largest automaker set up its assembly plant in Georgetown Ky Last week Nissan Motor Co Ltd and Mazda Motor Corp announced plans to boon purchases of US parts' Digital Microsoft plan joint venture BOSTON Digital Equipment Corp and Microsoft Corp next week plan to announce a new alliance The announcement next Tuesday is expected to combine strength in developing software for desktop computers with expertise in linking computers in global networks Labor chief assails new-jobs vow DETROIT American workers are being by President Bush who campaigned on a promise to create 30 million new jobs during his time in office AFLdO President Lane Kirkland said Monday him full credit for a small growth in jobs before his recession began to destroy them he now owes us about Kirkland told the opening session of the trade convention in Detroit The host city has a 249-percent unemployment rate Delegates overwhelmingly approved by voice vote a resolution to support Senate passage of the Workplace Fairness Act sponsored bySen Howard Met-zenbaum (D-Ohio) The bill has 33 cosigners so far but Metzenbaum said without 60 votes it could die in a Senate filibuster Similar legislation passed the House in June Both bills re-establish the priority of right to strike over an right to permanently re-lace workers made possible by a Supreme Court decision Effort to foil lockout at Caterpillar fails AURORA 111 About 500 United Auto Worker members on Monday tried to defy Caterpillar lockout and were threatened with arrest and turned away union leaders said The action is part of the union's strategy to qualify about 5650 locked-out workers in Aurora East Peoria and Peoria for unemployment compensation Caterpillar spokesman Chuck Smith said company officials met with 30 union leaders for about an hour before the group dispersed He said he doubted anyone was threatened with arrest The union struck two key assembly plants early last week idling 2000 workers in Decatur and 400 in East Peoria Caterpillar retaliated later in the week by locking out 5600 union workers in Aurora and East Peoria Saudis likely to keep oil production high LONDON Saudi Arabia will keep its oil production high even if Kuwait and Iraq resume large-scale exports industry sources said Monday Such a move would keep oil prices depressed spelling trouble for oil prod ers But for motorists it could me even cheaper gasoline TICKER Southland Corp reported Monday lower-than-expected earnings of S58 million in the third quarter as the economic downturn and cool weather took a toll on its 7-Eleven convenience stores General Motors Corp Ford Motor Co and Chrysler Corp announced Monday the formation of their fifth joint research project this one dealing with computer-aided design and manufacturing The partnership is aimed at eliminating duplication of cost and effort among the automakers Mennen Co the 113-year-old family-owned company that makes Speed Stick deodorant and Skin Bracer after shave said Monday it is up for sale Pepsico Inc says it may write off as much as $30 million in one-time expenses next quarter for restructuring its European snack food business Compiled from press services store The Mores founded in 1892 in England sell traditional and sportswear accessories books and gifts The stores are decorated with antique reproductions designed to promote an aristocratic English flavor The Limited already operates five different stores at Oak Court Limited Limited Too apparel Express Lane Bryant and Secret Nationwide the company operates about 4000 stores the Limited sees great potential at Oak Court or they consider opening a store never been in Memphis Ms Smith said Eugene Huston checks a circuit board something in a foreign country at lower price than it is sold for in the country where it is made And federal i primarily flrom its own country Smith Corona contends that Brother Industries continues to manufacture most of parts of the electronic typewriters and word processors abroad but it has shifted them to Malaysia for shipment to Bartlett instead of shipping directly from Japan Thompson said is still obvious and flagrant circumventing Nothing has Thompson said Conner said Brother manufactures Open Market Committee some officials warned that if they lowered rates more now they might be forced to raise rates next year to hold down inflation if the long-awaited economic re covery gains momentum But raising rates in the middle of a presidential election would be extremely difficult The concerns underscored the Fed's deep-seated fears about a resurgence of Inflation next year Fed officials be- lieve that there is a delay of three to six months between the time rate reductions are made and their effect on the economy is felt Consequently they fear that another move on interest rate policy now will hit the economy just as it is gaining momentum leading to higher prices Officials acknowledged however that the Fed might be forced to move more aggressively if the economy deteriorates badly got to remember we have said we wouldn't go lower one Fed official said But a growing number of Fed officials are expressing doubts about their ability to use interest rate policy to influence the economy Sources say that senior Fed policy-makers are frustrated that interest rate reductions over the past year have done so little to revive the economy And they privately concede that lower interest rates may not be the right medicine for an economy heavily burdened by public and private debt Further Fed interest cuts seem unlikely this year Belz to open outlet mall in Las Vegas next year -By James Risen Los Angaie Tima WASHINGTON The Federal Reserve Board has virtually ruled out further interest rate reductions this year according to senior Fed officials Sources at the Fed said the board now doubts the ability of lower rates to fuel the economy fears the resurgence of inflation next year and is wary of potential long-term political ramifications of further interest rate reductions The decision is certain to disappoint the White House which has been counting on the Fed to cut interest rates before the 1992 election campaign begins in earnest Senior administration economic policy-makers would not comment Monday on the decision At an internal policy meeting last week Fed officials effectively agreed that if we see a bad month or two we will ride it without further cuts one source said Last week the Fed lowered its bench- mark discount rate by 05 percentage point to percent its lowest level 18 years ana slashed its federal funds By Cindy Wolff The Commercial Appeal Belz Enterprises plans to open a Belz Factory Outlet world in November 1992 in Las Vegas The Memphis-based developer received approval recently from the Las Vegas Zoning Board to build the 315OOOsquare-foot mall on a 38-acre site on the southeast corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Warm Springs Road Belz is the first to develop an outlet mall in Las Vegas a tourist destination that has about 20 million visitors a year The mall will Include approximately 50 outlets an entertainment center and a food court Belz is the second largest outlet center developer in the country with 1 close to 16 million square feet of factory outlet stores in five cities Its 650000-square-foot Orlando outlet complex is the largest nonanchored factory outlet center in the United States The nation's 270 factory outlet centers did about $6 billion in sales last year up 25 percent from the previous year Outlet stores typically experience better sales during a sluggish economy because people are rate 025 percentage point to 475 percent At last policy session of the.