LaFerriere leaves Thrifty amid merch restructure - Bob LaFerriere; merchandise department restructure creates 3 senior VPs for buying

LOS ANGELES -- A merchandise department restructure at Thritty Drugs has sparked the surprise departure of 20-year buying veteran Bob LaFerriere.

The restructure creates three senior vps for buying, partitioning buying responsibility by merchandise classes. The structure change was launched by Eve Rich, named Thrifty Drug president in December as part of a major ongoing overhaul of Thrifty Corp. top management.

The new plan, implemented this spring, made LaFerriere one of three senior-vp buyers. He was joined by two new hires, Debbie Anderson and Shirli Sumida.

LaFerriere had been elevated as the sole senior-vp buyer for the 622-store Thrifty Drugs in August in a first wave of management changes. Parent Pacific Enterprises launched the shakeup last year with the assignment of Dan Seigel as president and chief operating officer, Thrifty Corp.

LaFerriere has accepted a post as sinior vp-GMM at Thrifty Corps' 43-store BiMart member warehouse division in Eugene, Ore. He will report to ceo Martin Smith, said Chris Bement, executive vp, thrifty Copr.

"We think very highly of Bob. He will again be in charge of the overall [buying] operation. Marty Smith needed a seasoned buyer, who could lead that department," Bement said.

"We offered it to Bob and he wanted it," Bement added. The 30,000-square-foot BiMarts all have pharmacies.

Bement said that with LaFerriere's departure, a third senior-vp buying will be named, and the responsibilities for categories could be shifted.

Rich named two executives with department store and fashion merchandise experience similar to her own to fill out the top buying staff.

Debbie Anderson, most recently a vp merchandise manager at Fortunoff in New York, has been named senior vp buying for housewares and sundries. Anderson was previously with The Broadway department store chain, where Rich also worked.

Shirli Sumida has been named senior vp buying for HBA and jewerly. Sumida was most recently a merchandise manager with Comtempo Casuals, the Los angeles women's fashion retailer where Rich was chairman and ceo befor moving to Thrifty in November.

Sumida was previously also with The Broadway, the Carter Hawley Hale subsidiary, from 1969 to 1986.

Shortly afte being hired, Rich brought in Bob Glass as executive vp. Glass' background is in general merchandise retailing and in reorganizing companies.

Thrifty Corp. is coming off a $64-million operating loss in fiscal 1990 ended in November. Results from a wideranging consultant's study on operations and goals is expected mid-year.

Thrifty Corp., owned Pacific Enterprises, includes BiMarts, the Thrifty and Thrifty Jr. Drug stores, the Pay 'n Save drug store chain and three sporting goods chains.

COPYRIGHT 1991 Reproduced with permission of the copyright holder. Further reproduction or distribution is prohibited without permission.
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group