F.W. WOOLWORTH'S &lt;Z> 1986 PROFITS RISE 21 PCT

  The specialty retailing area continues
  to pay off for F.W. Woolworth Co, once known only as a five and
  dime store chain, which said its 1986 income rose 21 pct.
      It was the fourth consecutive year of profit increases for
  the New York-based retailer which was founded over 100 years
  ago.
      Woolworth's 1986 income rose to 214 mln dlrs or 3.25 dlrs
  per share compared with 1985's profit of 177 mln or 2.75 dlrs
  per share. Revenues for the year rose to 6.50 billion compared
  with the prior year's 5.96 billion.
      For the fourth quarter, the company reported profits rose
  10 pct to 117 mln dlrs or 1.78 dlrs per share compared with
  1985 fourth quarter results of 106 mln or 1.64 dlrs per share.
  Revenues rose to 2.02 billion from 1.85 billion dlrs.
      Roy Garofalo, Woolworth vice president, told Reuters that
  income generated by the company's specialty store operations
  accounted for 52 pct of the parent company's 1986 profits.
      He said the company now has 4,700 specialty stores
  operating under 30 different names. Woolworth plans to open 650
  more specialty stores in 1987. At this time last year, it
  operated 4,100 specialty stores, Garofalo said.
      Garofalo said the largest specialty chain operated by
  Woolworth is Kinney Shoe Stores, followed by the Richman
  apparel unit. Among other units are Little Folk Shop, a chain
  of discount children's apparel stores; The Rx Place, a discount
  drug, health and beauty aid operation; and Face Fantasies,
  which sells cosmetics. There are currently about 1,700
  Woolworth general merchandise stores operating worldwide, of
  which 1,200 are in the United States.
      Harold Sells, chairman and chief executive of Woolworth,
  said in a statement, "These results are especially gratifying as
  they are an improvement over last year's record earnings."
      Sells that it was the fourth successive year earnings in
  each quarter improved over the corresponding year-earlier
  period.
      Woolworth's variety store operations were hard hit in the
  1970's and early 1980's by the quickly growing discount store
  industry. In an attempt to compete in the 1970's, Woolworth
  opened a discount general store chain, Woolco, and J. Brannam,
  a discount apparel chain. Both were failures in the United
  States, although Woolco still operates in Canada.
      In 1985, however, Woolworth changed its strategy and
  announced that it would operate specialty stores. At that time,
  the company said it would create 14 new groups of such stores.
  Specialty stores generally have higher sales per square foot
  than general merchandise stores.
  

