California: Oct. 12, 2001
Irvine-based St. John Knits announced the resignation of H.W. Mullins as chief executive officer, a position he held since the beginning of the year; Mullins, who came to St. John from Neiman Marcus, said the move from retail to manufacturing was not what he expected and noted that his decision to leave was amicable; chairman and co-founder Bob Grey will assume the CEO position, and Bruce Fetter, executive vice president for operations, will be promoted to co-president...A federal judge approved a settlement with Southern California Edison that would keep the utility company afloat; the agreement allows Edison to repay $3.3 billion in debt with shareholder and ratepayer funds...The former Macy’s store in the Westwood section of Los Angeles will become a Ralphs supermarket; the 225,000-square-foot space, designed in 1950 for Bullocks, has been vacant since 1997; under a plan by Cincinnati-based developer Madison Marquette Co., the space will be divided up into several tenants, including EXPO Design Center, Longs Drugs and Best Buy...Local designer Sheri Bodell will launch a jeans line called CB Jeans for Spring deliveries; the collection is to be manufactured in China by CPI International...Earl Jeans announced plans to open a flagship store in Manhattan’s SoHo district; this will be the second store for the Los Angeles jeans maker, and the company said more locations—both national and international—are being considered.
