Montgomery Ward Plans New Look for Some Stores

Montgomery Ward & Co., in a departure from its traditional emphasis on mass merchandising, said Tuesday that it plans to convert 40% of its existing stores to a new specialty store format by the end of this year.

The stores will be redesigned to offer a “store within a store” concept, which features departments with a tight focus in product areas such as apparel, home care, electronics and appliances.

The Chicago-based retailer said it will convert 117 of its 290 stores to the specialty format, which it has been testing in six locations since August. Two of the six stores were located in Chico and Torrance. The chain said 13 of its 52 California stores will be involved in the first phase of the changeovers.

Montgomery Ward, a unit of Mobil Corp., began experimenting with the new format as part of a major reorganization that included pulling out of the catalogue business and selling its Jefferson Ward store chain.

Bernard F. Brennan, president and chief executive of Montgomery Ward, said the next step in the reorganization would include discontinuing certain products at all stores and limiting the sale of other product lines to larger Wards stores.

The discontinued and scaled-back product lines are primarily in the recreational, leisure and homecare areas, the company said. Sales of these lines accounted for about $250 million in annualized sales, or roughly 6% of Ward’s total retail sales in 1985.

“Results from our specialty store tests are encouraging,” Brennan said. “Our figures show that sales on a department-by-department basis are up dramatically over the comparable period last year. The stores are outperforming the overall company.”

Brennan also said in a statement that the merchandising change will mean a “modest” reduction in the employee base over the balance of the year. The company, which employs 2,300 people, said about 65 jobs in the headquarters office in Chicago are expected to eliminated.

The California stores that will be involved in the merchandising change are located in Bonita, Escondido, Eureka, La Mesa, Marysville, Merced, Mission Valley, Napa, Visalia, Redding, Longview, Orville and Porterville.