I. Magnin to Fill Buffum’s Vacancy in Fashion Valley

I. Magnin announced plans Tuesday to open a store in the Fashion Valley Shopping Center in a building left vacant in May by the failed Buffum’s department store chain.

I. Magnin, a division of the R.H. Macy & Co. retail conglomerate that specializes in fine men’s and women’s clothing, will not open its newest store until mid-1992 after spending a year refurbishing the space. There are now 23 I. Magnin stores, 19 of them in California.

In the San Diego area, I. Magnin has outlets in downtown La Jolla on Girard Avenue and in the La Jolla Village Square shopping mall.

Although the company did not release details of the planned refurbishment, the chain cannot add floor space to the two-level, 80,000-square-foot building because there is no more parking space in the 148-store center to accommodate the additional shoppers that a larger store would generate, said Gene Kemp, Fashion Valley’s general manager.

Kemp said the new I. Magnin’s store fits in with Fashion Valley’s strategy of becoming a more upscale mall, with more stores appealing to affluent shoppers.

Macy acquired the I. Magnin, Bullock’s Wilshire and Bullock’s retail chains from Federated Department Stores in the spring of 1988 and later combined I. Magnin and Bullock’s Wilshire. The Macy organization includes 144 stores.

Shirley Wilson, a spokeswoman for I. Magnin, said the chain is unsure how many employees it will have at the Fashion Valley store but said the company’s 60,000-square-foot outlet in La Jolla Village Square employs 124 full-time employees.