Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, August 5, 1993 TAG: 9308050061
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: SANDRA BROWN KELLY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Short
The center will close Aug. 14. Its 400 to 500 workers have been given notice that their jobs will end, spokesman Al Mathes said.
Mathes also confirmed that Sears is negotiating a sale of the telemarketing center to Retired Persons Services Inc., the mail-order prescription drug division of the American Associated of Retired Persons.
If the deal is completed, he said, RPS has indicated it is interested in hiring the Sears employees. It would not be an automatic hire, though. He said telecatalog workers would have to be interviewed for new jobs.
RPS has its headquarters in Alexandria and operations in several states. A spokesman for RPS would not comment on the negotiations or how it might use the Roanoke center, but he confirmed that talks between Sears and RPS have been under way for some time.
AARP has had a pharmacy service since 1959.
Closure of the Roanoke Sears center is part of the Chicago-based retailer's massive reorganization of several of its business units, including elimination of the entire catalog operation.
The Roanoke center stopped taking catalog orders on May 27, but it has been kept open to handle customer service calls.
"Sears has had many thousands of calls from customers who used to order from the catalog who want to know where they can buy the same product in future," Mathes said.
He said negotiations with RPS include the center's computer equipment. It would be a "turnkey" sale, he said.
by CNB