Spiegel To Close Outlet and Clearance Stores

Spiegel Corp. (Downers Grove, Ill.), mired in bankruptcy reorganization for the past month, has announced it will close all of its Spiegel and Newport News outlet and clearance stores.

Closing the 21 stores, which sell overstock and end-of-season merchandise from catalog operations, is expected to boost operating income by about $11 million a year.

Spiegel made no announcement about its largest retail component, the 545-store Eddie Bauer operation, except to say it is “evaluating the performance of the chain.”