Thrifty President Eve Rich Quits; ‘Differences’ Cited

Beleaguered Thrifty Corp., which has been struggling for nearly two years to boost sluggish sales, said Thursday that Eve A. Rich has resigned as president of its Thrifty Drug unit.

Rich, who was the only top woman executive at a major Southern California retailer, is leaving the company effective today because of “differences over management matters,” the company announced. Thrifty Drug will be headed by William E. Yingling, the 47-year-old chairman and chief executive of Thrifty Corp., the retailing division of Pacific Enterprises.

“This was pretty much a mutual decision,” said Yingling, who joined Thrifty seven weeks ago after five years as president of the Southern California division of the Lucky supermarket chain.

“Eve and I had discussed the future and it was pretty much a difference of styles and we decided to leave it at that,” Yingling said in an interview. “She felt that she had made her contribution and it was time for her to leave.”

Rich, who will turn 50 next week, joined Thrifty Drug last December in the newly created position of president to develop a turnaround strategy for the 623-store chain of Thrifty Drug and Thrifty Jr. stores. Rich, who had spent nearly a decade at the Contempo Casuals women’s specialty retail chain, was unavailable for comment Thursday.

Yingling emphasized that the company will continue to implement the strategy that Rich developed.

Thrifty has been working on remodeling and remerchandising stores to appeal to its primarily female clientele. In addition, the company has been hurt by the recession and other problems, including a “merchandise shrinkage,” or theft, rate that is higher than the industry average, said Janet E. Dzwierzynski, an analyst who follows Pacific Enterprises for the Duff & Phelps investment firm in Chicago.

When Yingling was appointed in August, “everyone (at Pacific Enterprises) was excited about Yingling, and Eve Rich was viewed as being the savior of the Thrifty operation,” Dzwierzynski said. “Given their backgrounds and experience levels, these are two individuals with very strong views and personalities and apparently they didn’t mesh.”

Yingling said the lingering recession will delay Thrifty’s turnaround until “well into 1992.” The company already has predicted that Thrifty will post a loss this year.

Besides the Thrifty Drug chain, Thrifty Corp. owns the Pay’n Save and Bi-mart drug store chains in the Pacific Northwest. Its sporting goods chains include Big 5 in the West, Gart Bros. in the Rocky Mountains and MC Sporting Goods in the Midwest.

Pacific Enterprises also is the parent of Southern California Gas Co. and an oil exploration firm. In recent months, the Los Angeles company has announced cost-cutting plans and has slashed its stock dividend in half.