Burbank’s Request on Towncenter : FTC Asked to Make Store Stay in Mall

The City of Burbank has formally asked the Federal Trade Commission to prevent the withdrawal of a Robinson’s department store from the proposed Towncenter shopping mall in Burbank.

In a document filed last month and released Friday, the city asked the agency to “require that the May Co. live up to its obligations and place the Robinson’s store in Burbank.”

The document also restated the city’s opposition to a planned $2.47-billion merger between St. Louis-based May Department Stores and New York-based Associated Dry Goods, the parent company of the J. W. Robinson department store chain.

The city went to the FTC because that agency has the power to review proposed mergers to see whether they will reduce competition.

Robinson’s was to be one of four department stores in Towncenter, which has been in the planning stages since 1971. But May Co., which started its bid to merge with Associated Dry Goods in June, announced last month that it would not permit a Robinson’s at the proposed 29-acre, $158-million Burbank mall.

Burbank officials suggested then that May Co.’s decision to withdraw Robinson’s from Towncenter stemmed from its desire to boost Laurel Plaza in North Hollywood, where there is a May Co. store.

The merger between May Co. and Associated would result in May’s reluctance to build another department store in the same area, the document stated.

“The most concrete example of this behavior has already been demonstrated by Robinson’s withdrawal from the Burbank Towncenter, undoubtedly as a result of the presence of a nearby May Co. store,” it said.

The FTC is scheduled to decide on the proposed merger this month.