Business Notes: Retailing

Like a spendthrift consumer with too many credit cards, R.H. Macy went on a wild shopping spree in the 1980s. But after bingeing on several ill-timed and richly priced acquisitions, including two department-store chains that cost $1.1 billion, the 134-year-old New York City retailer found itself deep in debt, mired in an industry-wide slump and unable to pay its bills. The day of reckoning arrived last week when Macy's was forced to file for bankruptcy after one of its major creditors rejected a proposed buyout by CBS chairman Lawrence Tisch.

With the slate wiped clean, suppliers who were reluctant to extend credit are shipping merchandise again, and banks that refused loans are opening their purse strings. In negotiating to reduce its $5.3 billion debt load, the big retailer is expected to close some of its 251 stores, which include Bullock's and I. Magnin. Coincidentally, Macy's filing came just one week before Allied and Federated stores were to emerge from the largest bankruptcy in the industry's history.