Business in brief: Talbots RPS store to close Aug. 21

Downtown Spokane women’s clothing retailer Talbots will close its doors on Aug. 21, a company spokesperson said. No reason was given other than that the lease with property landlord River Park Square hasn’t been renewed.

Talbots has been in the street-level store, at 706 W. Main Ave., since 1999 when the revamped mall was opened. Cowles Co., which publishes The Spokesman-Review, owns River Park Square.

A Talbots spokesperson said it’s not certain the retailer will reopen in another Spokane-area store.

Bob Smith, chief operating officer for River Park Square, declined to identify the new tenant going into Talbots’ spot.

Talbots is the third retailer in the downtown mall to be replaced by new tenants. Eddie Bauer will be replaced by an Apple Inc. store, and Sawtooth Grill will be replaced this fall by Sushi Maru.

“The retail market is always coming out with new ideas, better ideas, a better mousetrap,” said Smith. “When those (new) merchants are available, we in the development and shopping center industry have to go after them, if our market wants them,” he said.

Tom Sowa

Auto dealers report stronger sales in July

DETROIT – Summer promotions and easier credit lured shoppers back to car buying last month, a relief to an industry worried about June’s sales slowdown.

Every major automaker except Ford and Daimler said their July sales topped those in June. The biggest monthly sales gains were posted by Nissan, Toyota, Volkswagen, Subaru and Kia.

The industry sold just over 1 million cars and light trucks in July. That’s 6.6 percent higher than in June, when worries were growing that the economic recovery might be faltering. Sales also were 5.1 percent higher than in July 2009.

Pickup trucks and luxury cars were big sellers. Ford Motor Co. said July was the first month in two and a half years that it sold more than 50,000 F-150s. Sales of the Toyota Tundra full-size pickup jumped 40 percent over last July. The newly redesigned Jeep Grand Cherokee also saw sales jump.

Associated Press

Countrywide stock has token value

WASHINGTON – Former shareholders of fallen mortgage giant Countrywide Financial Corp. are in line to recoup a fraction of their investments now that a Los Angeles judge has approved a settlement worth more than $600 million.

The payoff doesn’t come close to compensating for the money lost by investors. But it could prompt more lenders to settle legal disputes at the center of the housing bust.

Bank of America, which bought Countrywide two years ago, agreed to pay $600 million to end a class-action case filed against the company. KPMG, Countrywide’s accounting firm, will pay $24 million.

Several New York pension funds who served as lead plaintiffs alleged that Countrywide hid how risky its business had become during the housing market’s boom years.

The agreement stands to return about 40 cents per share of Countrywide’s common stock, before legal fees and expenses. Consider that the stock peaked at $45 a share in February 2007, before the financial crisis. So an investor who held 100 shares could bank on receiving $40 for an investment that was once worth $4,500.

Associated Press