Carter Hawley to Merge 2 Chains in State : Retailing: The firm hopes to save $10 million annually by combining the Bay Area’s Emporium with Sacramento-based Weinstocks.

Carter Hawley Hale Stores confirmed Monday that it will combine its two Northern California department store chains and said the move will free the company to fire 350 employees and save $10 million a year.

The merger of the Bay Area’s Emporium stores with Sacramento-based Weinstocks is the second major cutback by Carter Hawley since it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy court protection Feb. 11. Previously, Carter Hawley slashed 100 jobs at its data-processing center in Anaheim and scaled down the operation, a move also intended to save $10 million annually.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge James R. Dooley approved the Emporium-Weinstocks merger in a closed hearing Friday after Carter Hawley’s unsecured creditors committee withdrew its objection to the plan.

Sources close to the committee said at least one creditor voiced concerns that the merger, by combining two divisions into one, would limit creditors’ options if they eventually want the company to sell assets.

The creditor argued, sources said, that a potential buyer interested in either Weinstocks or the Emporium might not want the combined operation. But the creditors committee withdrew its objection to the merger after a study by its accountants confirmed that the move could help Carter Hawley.

Under the merger, Emporium’s management will take over Weinstocks. The 22 Emporium stores and the 12 Weinstocks locations, however, will keep separate names for the time being.

Weinstocks’ top executives are among those being axed, including Gregory C. Crews, a seven-year Carter Hawley veteran who was named president and chief executive of Weinstocks in August, 1989. Carter Hawley spokesman Bill Dombrowski said Crews is expected to stay on until the consolidation is completed in August.

Others being fired are merchandise buyers and personnel and advertising employees, along with workers at Weinstocks’ distribution center in Sacramento, which will be closed.

The consolidation will leave Los Angeles-based Carter Hawley with three divisions: Broadway-Southern California, Broadway-Southwest and the Emporium-Weinstocks unit.

Separately, Dombrowski said Carter Hawley expects to announce shortly a new concessionaire to run the fine jewelry departments at its 89 stores. The firm that held that concession for the last 35 years, Toluca Lake-based Belkeith Corp., filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy court protection on Friday.

Benjamin S. Seigel, a lawyer for Belkeith, said the 600-employee company lost more than $10 million last year, and he blamed the red ink largely on a lack of traffic at Carter Hawley stores. He said the final straw came when Carter Hawley filed for bankruptcy, owing Belkeith $7.1 million.

He said Belkeith no longer has the money to run the jewelry departments, so it reached an agreement with a Boston-based retailer, Gross Bros., to operate the concession through June.