"Always Something Exciting"

That's the current -- and in all likelihood final -- marketing slogan for Robinsons-May, which, as expected, will cease to exist in the next year.

The L.A. Times reports that once the $11 billion Federated aquisition of May Co. is complete, the company plans to shutter 20 stores in Southern California -- and rebrand the remaining Robinsons-May stores as Macys:

The store closures and the re-branding of the remaining Robinsons-May stores under the Macy's banner will pose major challenges for the region's shopping center owners, clothing makers and media companies that have catered to both chains.

Federated said that it expects to retain all managers "in good standing" and offer positions to the "vast majority" of about 4,300 Southern California workers employed at the stores targeted for closure after the holiday shopping season. No layoffs from the store closures, which involve existing Robinsons-May and Macy's stores, will take place before March 2006.

Stores will be closed in malls where a Macys already exists -- including Del Amo Fashion Center (Torrance), Fox Hills (Culver City), Glendale Galleria, Los Cerritos Center, Main Place North (Santa Ana), North County Fair (Escondido), Northridge Fashion Center, The Oaks S.C. (Thousand Oaks), Pacific View Mall (San Buenaventura),
Plaza Camino Real (Carlsbad), Santa Anita Fashion Park (Arcadia), Santa Monica Place, University Towne Center (La Jolla), Valley Plaza S.C. (Bakersfield) and Victoria Gardens (Rancho Cucamonga).

A few Macys will be shut down as well, including locations at the Galleria at Tyler (Riverside), Inland Center (San Bernardino), Lakewood Center, The Shops at Mission Viejo, Montclair Plaza, Palm Desert (apparel/home) and West Covina.

The end of Robinsons-May eliminates the last of the Los Angeles department stores, as
The Broadway, Bullock's and I. Magnin long ago faded away -- as well as J.W. Robinson's and the May Co. as separate entities. May Co. first entered the Los Angeles market in 1923, when the St. Louis-based company acquired the A. Hamburger & Sons department store. It then bought Associated Dry Goods Corp., the owner of L.A.'s J.W. Robinson's, in 1986; May Co. and J.W. Robinson's were merged into the present-day Robinsons-May in 1993.