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Talk of the bay: Filter maker will rebuild its plant bigger

By Times staff
Published March 1, 2008

Flanders Corp., the St. Petersburg-based filter maker, isn't just rebuilding its old fire-gutted plant in Bartow, it's increasing the factory's size by almost half. The new 265,000-square-foot building, the company's 13th plant, will take up to 10 months to build and employ more than 350. The old plant burned down July 11, costing the company millions of dollars. It was the third fire at the plant in as many months. One of the company's best-known consumer products is Arm & Hammer heating and air-conditioning filters. Shares in Flanders, a publicly traded company, closed Friday at $6.30, down 4 cents.

Marshalls updates its shoe selections
Marshalls, the off-price retail apparel chain, discovered what discount shoe store rivals Rack Room Shoes and DSW Shoe Warehouse learned long ago: Women buy more shoes when they're arranged by style rather than size. So Marshalls more than doubled its shoe selection and ditched the stacks of racks just in each size for women's, men's and athletic shoes. Stores in St. Petersburg's Crosswinds Center and Tampa's Britton Plaza got the new Shoe MegaShop look a few months ago; six more local stores were changed last week, with the rest of the 13 stores in the Tampa Bay area expected to be done by year's end. "Women see this big new display by the entrance and act like kids in a candy store," said Amy Cafazzo, Marshalls' spokeswoman.

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[Last modified February 29, 2008, 23:21:32]