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Talk of the bay: Talbots stores will return to the basics

By Times staff
Published January 5, 2008

Talbots' search to reconnect with its 35-and-up female core customer would be simpler without distractions like experiments with men's and kids fashion. So the struggling classic apparel chain, based in Hingham, Mass., said Friday it will abandon its 3-year-old foray into the men's and kids apparel business. Besides the lines disappearing from Talbots stores, the chain, which keeps its national operations center in Tampa, will close all 12 men's stores and 66 kids stores among its collection of 1,428. The apparelmaker is giving up lines that generated $100-million in annual sales in 2007. By September, about 800 people - or roughly 5 percent of its work force - will lose their jobs.

SRI/Surgical names new CEO
SRI/Surgical Express Inc. will fill a nearly yearlong vacancy in its top post with the appointment of Gerald Woodard as chief executive on Jan. 31. Woodard replaces Christopher Carlton, who left the Tampa surgical supply company in February. Since 2000, Woodard has been president of Clearwater's Linvatec, a supplier of orthopedic surgical equipment. SRI/Surgical has been struggling, reporting a 10-cents-a-share loss on revenue of $23.2-million for the quarter ended Sept. 30.

MarineMax chief took home $2.6M
MarineMax Inc. was the Tampa Bay area's fourth-worst-performing stock in 2007, and not surprisingly, top executives received no discretionary bonuses. But according to the company's preliminary proxy report, three of the Clearwater boat distributors' officers earned total compensation of at least $1-million, led by chairman and CEO William McGill Jr. with $2.6-million.

All about housing
James Thorner digs deeper into bay area housing news in his (Un)Real Estate blog at blogs.tampabay.com/realestate.

[Last modified January 4, 2008, 23:14:13]