Retailers talk merger

? Federated Department Stores Inc. is in talks about buying rival May Department Stores Co. in a deal that would create a huge retailer with $30 billion in combined sales and nearly 1,000 department stores including Bloomingdale’s, Macy’s, Lord & Taylor and Marshall Field’s, a published report said Thursday.

Holiday shoppers and pedestrians pass Bloomingdales in New York. Federated Department Stores Inc. is reportedly in talks to acquire May Department Stores Co. A deal between the two companies would create a retailer with 0 billion in combined sales and nearly 1,000 department stores including Bloomingdale's, Macy's, Lord & Taylor and Marshall Field's.

The Wall Street Journal, citing unidentified people familiar with the talks, said the discussions were preliminary and were at a delicate stage and cautioned that there was no guarantee of a deal.

A phone message requesting comment on the report was left Thursday with the office of Carol Sanger, a company spokeswoman for Federated. The Journal said a May representative declined comment.

The talks come amid a consolidation drive in the U.S. retailing industry as companies try to reduce costs and gain scale in an effort to compete more effectively with the industry leader, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Last fall, Kmart Holding Corp. agreed to buy Sears, Roebuck & Co. for $11.5 billion.

The Journal said the value of a possible deal between Cincinnati-based Federated and St. Louis-based May wasn’t clear.

It said Federated, which has 459 stores including Bloomingdale’s and Macy’s, has a market value of about $9.7 billion.

May, which operates about 500 department stores including Filene’s, Famous-Barr as well as Marshall Field’s and Lord & Taylor, has a market value of about $9.2 billion.