Stage Paying $37M for BC Moore

The deal, which is set to close in 30 days, includes all of BC Moore's leases, inventory and fixed assets at 78 locations along with the retailer's private-label credit card portfolio valued at more than $5 million. Company officials said they plan to sell off that portfolio, probably by the middle of this year.

Not included in the sale were BC Moore's corporate offices in Wadesboro, NC or its distribution centers, although both will be available for use during the transition, Stage chairman and CEO Jim Scarborough said.

"This is an excellent real estate play for us," Scarborough said of the acquisitions, located in smaller markets in Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina. "It expands and strengthens our position in the Southeastern United States, provides us with good real estate locations in many of our targeted markets, (and) also eliminates a potential competitor. Scarborough said the acquisition was consistent with the company's corporate strategy of increasing its store concentration in smaller and more profitable markets."

Of the 78 retail locations acquired by Stage, 69 will be converted into Peebles fashion stores and re-opened by mid-October. The remaining nine stores located in overlapping markets will be closed, the company said. Stage expects sales in the remaining stores to be between $95 million and $100 million by fiscal 2007. The deal pushes Stage's store count in Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina up from 30 to 99 stores.

Stage currently operations about 550 stores under the Stage, Bealls and Palais Royal in 30 Mid-Atlantic, Southeastern and Midwestern states.