Detroit Free Press from Detroit, Michigan • Page 44

I Section NYSE, Page 3 Amex, Page 4 Mutual funds, Page 8 Call Business: 222-8765 Newspaper union leaders lyow to fight union-busting tactics. Page 2E. Friday, March 13, 1992 Jlelroit Jkcc Vtcos INSIDE: Hudson's earnings decline; warehouse to close I Dow doesn't change as stocks are mixed THE DOW by Cecilia deck Free Press Business Writer On the same day it announced a sharp drop in annual earnings, Dayton Hudson Corp. Thursday said it would close a Hudson's warehouse in Dearborn in May. The move will save millions of dollars but cost 700 workers their jobs.

Dayton Hudson reported a 27 percent drop in earnings for 1991 and an 18 percent drop in the fourth quarter ended Feb. 1. Teamsters Local 299 President Ron Owens said he was angry at the way the decision to close the warehouse was made and blamed Hudson's parent company. "At one time J.L. Hudson was a pillar of this community," he said.

"Now the company is run by a corporate structure that could care less." The company said it negotiated the warehouse closing with the Teamsters local, which represents about 600 of the affected workers. But the union said it was never given an opportunity to discuss ways of keeping the facility open. "We were told we could not give them enough to keep it open," said Owens. The Dearborn warehouse is used for apparel and other soft goods such as linens. Hudson's spokeswoman Susan Sorensen said a consultant's study showed the company would save millions of dollars by consolidating distribution and warehousing for Hudson's, Dayton's and Marshall Field, the Chicago-based chain the company bought in 1990.

A warehouse in Minneapolis also will close. Sorensen said the consultants researched the possibility of moving Marshall Field's warehousing to Dearborn, but found the cost would be exorbitant and it would require a new building. Instead, the functions of the Dearborn warehouse will be moved to Chicago or to another undisclosed which will not require new construction. The downtown Detroit Hudson's warehouse for big-ticket items such as furniture and appliances employs about 250 workers and is not affected. Teamsters have represented Hudson's workers for 33 years.

Dayton Hudson reported 1991 fourth-quarter earnings of $192 million or $2.47 per share. For all of 1991, the retailer said net earnings fell to $301 million or 3,208.63 Stocks were mixed on concern that new evidence of economic strength will drive up interest rates. The Dow Jones average of 30 industrials, which fell 22.36 points Wednesday, closed unchanged at 3,208.63. But in the broader market, declining issues outnumbered advances by about 8 to 5 on the New York Stock Exchange. Big Board volume totaled was 180,240,000 shares.

$3.72 per share. 1 Revenues for the year rose, 9 percent to a record $16.11 billion. Fourth quarter revenues were $5.25 billion, up 8 percent. "We were disappointed with our 1991 results," said Kenneth Macke, chairman and chief executive officer. "Our gross margins in all our operating divisions were under pressure throughout the year because of the competitive environment." Besides department stores, Dayton Hudson owns Target discount stores and Mervyn's.

Ford will expand price plan for Escort Market details, Page3E DOW JONES QUICK CALL For stock updates call 1-900-246-4444 Each call costs 95 cents per minute Touch-tone phones only. Retail Sales Up Again. Retail sales jumped 1.3 percent in February, marking the first time sales have risen more than 1 percent for two consecutive months since p.tbil&w; LyJilfe. trk a Tin i I nalinrmfviif-'- ja-A i.Ai,..i....J III Til I mil 1985. The Commerce Department said all categories except for grocery 1 stores posted gains.

The report was the latest suggestion of a turnaround in consumer spending, which is vital to any recovery from recession since it represents two-thirds of the nation's economy. SO IS JOBLESS RATE: New claims for state unemployment insurance benefits rose 22,000 for the week ending Feb. 29 to a seasonally adjusted I 459,000. The Labor Department said the number of I people claiming unemployment benefits rose to a seasonally adjusted 3.41 million for the week ending Feb. 22, an increase of 151,000 from the previous week.

Michigan registered 7,909 new claims, mostly because of automobile industry layoffs. CATERPILLAR TALKS RESUME: Caterpillar Inc. has agreed to resume talks with striking United Auto Workers. The company said it would meet with the union at 9 a.m. Monday in St.

Louis to hear the UAW's revised contract proposal but said unless the union changes its position on key issues, "we regrettably will remain at impasse." Nearly 11,000 UAW members are on strike against the company in Illinois. NUTRASWEET BOWL NutraSweet Co. will begin selling a granulated version of its aspartame sweetener in June. A teaspoonful of NutraSweet Spoonful is as sweet as an equal measure of sugar but has only two calories compared to sugar's 16. It can't be used in baking, though, because aspartame breaks down under prolonged exposure to high heat.

SPORTY BMW: German automaker BMW will build small sports cars in the future. BMW officials said the company is developing a car powered by a 174 horsepower engine that would compete against By Greg Gardner Free Press Automotive Writer In a small step toward simplifying the car-buying experience, Ford Motor Co. this spring will expand to the nation a regional one-price strategy for its 1993 Escort LX subcompact. Ford began selling its subcompact for a set price minus a $500 rebate last fall in New England, the Southeast and along the West Coast. Any Escort three-, four-, five-door or wagon went for a suggested price of $9,999 with a manual transmission or about $10,500 with an automatic.

Under the program, to begin May 21 when the 1993 Escort goes on sale, the price will be $10,899 for manuals and $11,63 for automatics. Ford has not ye disclosed what, if any, HUGH GRANNUMDetrolt Free Press Artists Autumn Dunbar, Eugene Clark and Eric Hansen designed the Shadowbox Caff to attract other artists and art students. Away From The Grind rebate will be offered on the car. Each "one-price" Escort will be equipped with power steering, air an I 33 Volkswagen AG Golf VR6 model. They declined to give a marketing timetable or a price tag.

I I I i riKV. tT I A Coddled Critters: Money may be tight, people may be out of jobs, but pets are still being pampered. Pets Supplies Marketing magazine says sales of dog, cat, horse, gerbil, guinea v. 7 Hansen, an industrial designer, designed hanging lights using low-cost hardware finds. Artist friends pitched in and painted the table tops, each with a coffee theme.

A friend's mother sold them a used cash register. Another friend helped with accounting and convinced the three partners to incorporate. Their official name is Trio Enterprises Inc. They went shopping at secondhand stores for dishes, cutlery and chairs. They found suppliers for coffee, tea, muffins and cheesecake.

Their biggest expense was a $900 used espresso machine they bought from Gayle's Chocolates in Royal Oak. They spent about $10,000 to open the cafe, and didn't borrow a cent. See COFFEEHOUSE, Page 2E Coffeehouse gives artists place to meet BY CECILIA DECK Free Press Business Writer The Shadowbox Caffe in Hamtramck got its start last summer when Eugene Clark, a 26-year-old artist and part-time instructor at the Center for Creative Studies, had $800 saved up and began wondering how much it would cost to open "a place for people like ourselves." He envisioned a coffeehouse near the cultural center of Detroit and near his home in Ham- Eugene Clark, left, and Eric Hansen work behind the counter. pig, hamster and (fill in the blank) paraphernalia totaled $792.2 million in 1990, up 6.6 percent from 1989. No figures yet for 1991, but analysts say the industry is generally recession-resilient because it's dominated by small entrepreneurs who churn out a never-ending list of products to tempt pet owners.

Massacre Cafeteria Reopens: The Kuieen, cafeteria that was the scene of the nation's worst shooting massacre Oct. 16 reopened without fanfare but with widespread support from the community. The Luby's Cafeteria where George Hennard Jr. tramck, where many young artists and art students live because of low rents. When roommates Eric Hansen, 24, and Autumn Elizabeth Dunbar, 23, got wind of Clark's idea, they wanted to be part of it.

All three are graduates of the Center for Creative Studies, and all three wanted a place to meet, drink coffee and maybe listen to some music or poetry. They shared expenses equally. They rented an old restaurant its latest sign said "Relax Restaurante," but at one time it was called the Warsaw and got to work tearing down wagon wheel chandeliers and covering up dark wood paneling. killed 23 lunchtime patrons before killing himself bears little resemblance to the way it looked on that bloody afternoon. The remodeled restaurant opened at 10:45 a.m.

without ceremony, and by noon, more than 300 people were served. Dozens more lined up outside for lunch. Northwest attendants vote to stick with Teamsters I Free Press Z' R-Roberts remote mirrors. Ford officials say the prices will be lower in areas, like Detroit, that were not part of the test program, but exactly how much lower is hard to determine, because not all current Escort owners have paid the sticker price. "This is a way to sell an automobile that takes the hassle out and that's what people have told us they want," said Ford division general manager Ross Roberts.

But the one-price strategy will not cover the higher-performance GT or the LXE model, he said. Saturn Corp. has used set, non-negotiable prices, without rebates, and its dealers have drawn high customer satisfaction ratings. "It is just starting to work," said Tom Denchel, a Ford dealer in Prosser, who began the one-price program last fall. "Ford is trying to market the car more to the import-oriented buyer.

We're taking in Hondas, Mazdas and Volkswagens on trades, especially for the Escort wagon." Although Escort is the nation's best-selling subcompact, its sales are running about 10 percent behind last year's pace, and generally have been disappointing since its redesign in 1990. Ford sold 250,000 Escorts last year, and Roberts said the goal for this year is 300,000. Most Escorts are built at Ford's Wayne plant, but the notchback LXE sedan and some wagons are assembled in Hermosillo, Mexico, primarily with American parts. As Ford's most fuel-efficient car built in the United States, Escort is crucial to the company's compliance with the government's Corporate Average Fuel Economy standard, now 27.5 miles per gallon. "We're hitting our CAFE numbers now, and that is not a problem," Roberts said.

The 1993 model will feature modest cosmetic changes, including a new grille, the choice of six new colors and redesigned tail lights, wheel covers, side moldings and burners. in Michigan business will want to read it." Keller, a tart-tongued critic of General Motors debuted on America's bookshelves in 1989 with "Rude Awakening," an anthology of GM's mishaps during the 1980s. Although a rookie author, Keller managed to sell 40,000 copies, enough to put "Rude Awakening" into paperback. "You don't get rich by writing books," said Keller, an analyst with Furman Selz in New York. "I've been thinking about this book for a year.

Basically, what I plan to do is examine what the world's auto Hennard industry might look like at the end Analyst's book to look at auto industry in 2000 BY DAVID J. MORROW Free Press Automotive Writer After a bounty of car books hit local bookstores last fall Ben Hamper's "Rivethead" and Donald Petersen's "A Better Idea" among them one might wonder if America's interest in assembly lines may at last be waning. Apparently, America's attention span hasn't yet been overtaxed. Three weeks ago, a pack of Park Avenue publishers fought a bidding war over auto industry analyst Maryann Keller's "Collision," a crystal-ball look at the globe's auto industry in the year 2000. Doubleday copped the prize.

The price: roughly $450,000. 'Collision' will be a big book with a big audience," said Joel Fishman, the acquisitions editor for Doubleday. "There are a lot of broader principles involved here. Everyone involved in intematjonal of the century. I months ago, but then we didn't know Ron Carey was going to be there." Molosha said the vote was "a loss and a disappointment" for his union but that it helped the workers because "it made the Teamsters remember they have flight attendants in their ranks." Northwest, the dominant airline at Detroit Metro Airport, declined comment on the vote.

The flight attendants' current contract ends Dec. 31. The vote was a victory for Carey, who campaigned coast-to-coast, including a stop in Romulus, for the Teamsters after being named the union's president in January. Prior to his campaign, 70 percent of Northwest flight attendants signed election cards supporting the AFA. During his campaign, Carey promised to give flight attendants a bigger voice in union affairs by creating a single nationwide local union to Northwest Airlines' flight attendants have voted 4,667 to 2,830 to continue to be represented by the Teamsters union, rejecting an organizing effort by the rival Association of Flight Attendants.

The final tally was released Thursday by the Teamsters. About 8,400 Northwest flight attendants, including 3,000 in Romulus-based Teamsters Local 2757, were eligible to vote in late January. No breakdown by local was available. Mary Don Erskine, president of Local 2757, said the recent election of Teamsters President Ron Carey played a major role in the flight attendants' decision. "We have a new direction with our new leaders, and I hope we'll all be unified now," she said.

David Molosha, a spokesman for the Association of Flight Attendants in Washington, D.C., said of the results: "It's not what we expected four U-M Economists Optimistic: Despite layoffs, the national economy has actually expanded in each quarter since the end of the Gulf War and should continue to grow over the next two years, University I of Michigan economists say. Pointing to rising sales of domestic cars, trucks and new homes and an increase in manufacturing orders, the economists forecast a 2.3 percent annual growth rate in the second quarter of this year. Upjohn Buys Pakistani Firm: Upjohn Co. has completed the acquisition of Kurram Chemical Co. (Pvt) Limited, a subsidiary of Federal Chemical and Ceramic Corp.

(Pvt) Limited, owned by the government of Pakistan. Upjohn entered into a licensing agreement with Kurram in June 1990 as part of Pakistan's Privatization Program. AD AWARD: Susan Kiltie, vice president and media director of J. Walter Thompson, has been named the 1992 Advertising Woman of the Year by the Women's Advertising Club of Detroit. Kiltie, one of 10 women officers at the agency, will be honored during a dinner April 6 The annual award honors a Detroit area woman injthe advertising and communications fields.

"Collision," a working title, will plot the progress and likely outcomes of GM, Volkswagen and Toyota, top nlavprs in their respective mar- Maryann kets. The trio Keller should attract a worldwide audience and a global payoff for Doubleday. "Collision" is scheduled to be released in fall 1993. 1.