Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire
Tuesday, September 29, 1998
City Mill constructs new image for stores
City Mill Co. is changing the image of its seven-store Oahu hardware and building-supplies retail business to offer every-day low prices and do away with special sales.President Carol Ai said customers won't have to wait for their favorite items to go on sale but there still will be monthly specials and the range of merchandise will be widened.
She said the "New City Mill" image will be launched this weekend in a "grand reopening" of the stores as City Mill begins celebrations leading to next year's 100th anniversary of its founding as a Honolulu rice and lumber milling wholesaler. It started retailing in 1955 and dropped the wholesale business in 1980.
Goldman Sachs cancels plans for public offering
NEW YORK -- Goldman Sachs & Co. abruptly canceled plans to dissolve its 130-year-old private partnership and sell a stake to the public, citing the turmoil in global financial markets that has reduced the company's potential value.The decision announced last night by Wall Street's last remaining big private firm indicates what some of the most prominent investment bankers think about the prospects for a quick recovery of the hemorrhaging stock market. The firm had been widely expected to delay its initial stock sale from late October or early November. Instead, it withdrew the plan.
Kamehameha Schools/Bishop Estate has invested about $500 million for an estimated 10 percent share of the investment firm.
Long-distance alliances are illegal, FCC rules
WASHINGTON -- Regional Bell telephone companies that want to sell their local phone customers long-distance service provided by another company got bad news from federal regulators: It's illegal.US West Communications Inc. and Ameritech Corp. -- both Bell companies -- were told by the Federal Communications Commission yesterday that their separate alliances with the long-distance company, Qwest Communications International Inc., violate federal law. The FCC's decision, if upheld, would have implications for other Bells that want to enter into similar alliances to offer customers one-stop shopping for local and long-distance services. US West said it will appeal the FCC's decision to a federal court. Amer-itech is weighing its legal options.
In other news . . .
BOSTON -- Gillette Co. will lay off as many as 4,700 employees, or 11 percent of its worldwide work force, the company announced yesterday. Gillette also plans to close 14 factories, 12 warehouses and 30 office facilities worldwide. The reorganization means lower-than-expected earnings for the third quarter.
See expanded coverage in today's Honolulu Star-Bulletin.
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