VENTURE PLANS TO GET RID OF STORES; FUTURE OF CAPE STORE UNCERTAIN

Venture Stores Inc. has announced plans to sell and assign leases on most of its stores and other real estate to Kimco Realty Corp.

Under terms of a Monday agreement, Kimco will acquire lease rights to 89 Venture properties. The list includes most of Venture's 73 stores and some of the 20 stores that are in the process of being closed,

Kimco is finalizing an agreement to lease a majority of the stores to Kmart Corp. Kimco also has preliminary commitments from other retailers to assume some of the Venture sites.

At this point in the negotiations, the future of Venture as an anchor store at West Park Mall in Cape Girardeau is not known. It could become a Kmart store, a retail outlet for one of the other Kimco clients, or it could close.

The Venture store opened here in 1984 and occupies 80,000 square feet.

"This space could be enlarged to as much as 130,000 square feet, said Jim Govro, West Park Mall manager.

Regardless of what happens, the Venture space here would not remain vacant long. West Park Mall has had inquiries from retailers for space of from 80,000 to 100,000 square feet, said Govro.

Terms of the Venture-Kimco agreement were filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court Monday and must be approved by the court.

The court will review the Kimco offer and rule on the proposed transaction possibly early in May.

Venture officials say that with bankruptcy court approval it will hire an outside firm to conduct inventory clearance sales at all stores.

Customers will have until May 7 to make returns of exchanges and to redeem gift certificates. Inventory clearance sales will begin as soon as possible after the court approves the transaction.

Officials said Venture will receive at least $95 million in cash less certain closing costs from Kimco, but the total could go higher depending on the final lease arrangements.

Venture officials said they were happy that many of the company's employees would keep their jobs under the arrangement. Workers had faced an uncertain future as rumors of the company's liquidation surfaced.

"We're happy to have been able to structure a deal with Kimco that will provide job opportunities for as many of our associates as possible while ensuring that Venture's creditors receive the highest possible payout," said Robert N. Wildrick, Venture's chairman and chief executive officer. "As one of the top retailers in the world, Kmart will become strong in the communities where it takes over Venture locations and be able to offer some great opportunities for our associates."

Most positions at Venture's corporate headquarters and two distribution centers will be eliminated once the transaction is approved.

Floyd Hall, Kmart chairman, president and chief executive officer, said the addition of the Venture stores offers Kmart the ability to expand the company's real estate holdings. Kmart purchased 20 stores from Venture last summer.

"We were pleased by the successful conversion of these former Venture store to our Big Kmart format last year and expect a smooth transition with this new group of stores" said Hall.

Employees at Venture's headquarters at O'Fallon, a St. Louis suburb, said that since Wednesday normal work had nearly stopped. Last week the company canceled advertising inserts scheduled for newspapers for May 3.

Warwick said Venture has had ongoing problems with receiving timely merchandise shipments form some vendors because of constant rumors and speculation about the company's future. This meant that stores were frequently out of stock on advertised merchandise and basic items, he said.

"Despite a tremendous amount of effort on the part of the entire Venture team, we have been caught in a cycle that has been impossible to break outside Chapter 11," he said.

Venture has contracted with Drake Beam Morin, an out-placement firm, to provide job-search assistance and to set up a career center at Venture's headquarters. Venture employs about 7,500 people.

Venture closed 20 of its 93 stores after it filed for bankruptcy protection Jan. 20. Although it obtained new financing intended to carry it through a Chapter 11 reorganization, its available capital has decreased.