Heads and tales: Shopping block
By Wade Kwon
Misfortune 500: Another Birmingham corporate institution is packing up for North Carolina. Saks, which bought department story chain Parisian in 1996, is selling it off to Charlotte-based Belk for $285 million. What does this mean for employees? Everyone sing along now: job cuts, up to 190. And for shoppers? No more Parisian, a company established in 1887 in the heart of downtown; the stores will change to the Belk name by 2007. The latest corporate selloff diminishes the city’s standing among corporate homes: In 2001, Birmingham had six Fortune 500 companies; after Saks/Parisian, it has one, Regions Bank.
• Saks selling Parisian to Belk for $285M [Birmingham Business Journal]
I like to shop at the duty-free shop: The state, along with more than 200 cities and counties, is waiving sales tax for Friday through Sunday to help out campaigning incumbents back-to-school shoppers. The tax “holiday” covers clothing under $100, school supplies, books under $30 and computers and peripherals under $750. Many Birmingham-area stores are opening longer and expect crowds. Tip: Belk (and JCPenney) at Century Plaza already have huge going-out-of-business discounts. Maybe we’ll see the same at Parisian in the near future.
• Alabama merchants expect huge sales tax holiday weekend [Associated Press]
The foolhardy capital of the South: Guess what? Birmingham may get its ninth(!) shot at hosting a pro football team. In the news biz, we joke about stories that repeat so predictably, all you have to do is update the names and dates. Remember the ’Bolts of 2001? The brash assistant sports editor (who was also a good guy) said that team would not fail. We had a pro-con debate on page one, and I took con. Tell you what: We’ll trot out the old stories again, but to be fair this time, I’ll take pro, just for giggles.
• Birmingham in talks with pro team at Legion Field [Birmingham News]
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Thursday, August 3, 2006, 3:36 pm
Thanks to the greedy Trussville gov’t, only the state sales tax will be discounted there.
Thursday, August 3, 2006, 10:13 pm
Personally, I don’t think it’s terrible that we lose a ‘big corporate HQ’ – they’re a dying breed. The future is in growing new companies… truth is few employees are willing to be relocated these days and our economy appears strong enough to absorb most anyone who chooses to stay. Witness the new banks in the wake of Southtrust and loads of former bank techies who got snapped up by banking software companies here in the region. But, hey that’s just my humble opinion.
Friday, August 4, 2006, 2:29 pm
It’s funny you mentioned Southtrust. A former colleague’s wife worked there, until she was laid off in the Wachovia takeover. They moved up north to new jobs because their options here were severely limited. Birmingham has to do all it can to hang on to young professionals, whether it’s in big corps or small businesses.