The sale of Marshall Field's to May, which closed earlier thismonth, and the recently announced sale of its Mervyn's division for$1.65 billion to a group of private investors, is part of thediscounter's plan to focus on the Target discount chain. MayDepartment Stores bought the Marshall Field's stores, which aremostly in the Chicago, Detroit and Twin Cities, and nine Meryvn'slocations in the Twin Cities in a $3.24 billion deal.

The deal included 11 Marshall Field's stores in Minnesota --anchors ot Rosedale and Southdale as well as Downtown stores inMinneapolis, St. Paul, Rochester and St. Cloud -- and gives May andominant position in the Twin Cities regional mall market. May alsobought nine Mervyn's stores in the Twin Cities, which are in theprocess of being closed. May has yet to announce its plans for thestore locations, although it said it was likely that some of themcould be converted to Marshall Field's stores.

The sale of the nine stores will likely close in the thirdquarter and is not expected to affect Target's earnings. Theretailer had 1,272 Target stores at the end of the quarter.