The marketing services division is primarily involved in developing private labels and does some central buying for the company's store divisions.

Mr. Questrom said his immediate objective now was to visit all the store divisions in the next month and meet with suppliers.

The organisation also includes base workshops, store divisions, training and recruitment centers, and other staff.

Its 22 store divisions had sales of more than $11 billion in the latest fiscal year.

The 85 store division gave Big B their entrance into the Atlanta market, a goal they had been working on for years.

Like most of its store divisions, Federated now has a tandem top management.

They have said all their store divisions are profitable.

After various divestitures that have been announced, Federated would be left 16 store divisions.

Zayre also announced that it would report a "large operating loss" for the second quarter at its retail store division.

The team would include members from various store divisions, working primarily through the New York buying office.