From staff reports

Great Indoors closing doors here

Sears, Roebuck & Co. said Thursday it will close three Great Indoors stores, including the Greater Cincinnati location near Tri-County Mall in Springdale.

The store closings are expected to happen by the end of the year. About 350 of the retailer's 2,700 employees will be affected, said a Sears spokeswoman, who did not have numbers for the Springdale location. Other stores closing are in Arlington and Willowbrook, Texas.

Sears plans to revamp the merchandise mix at its remaining 18 Great Indoors stores in 11 U.S. markets and convert its Great Indoors store in Shelby, Mich., to an outlet format.

P&G in outsource talks with IBM

Procter & Gamble Co. is negotiating exclusively with IBM to provide payroll, benefits, travel and other services to its employees.

Other contenders for the contract were Accenture Ltd. and Cincinnati-based Convergys Corp. Convergys said it withdrew from the bidding because it was "unable to agree upon a mutually beneficial business relationship" with P&G.

The contract, which would send about 700 P&G employees globally to IBM, would be the third in a series of outsourcing deals signed by P&G. The next contract up for grabs will be to provide accounts payable services to P&G.

W. Chester firm to close in March

Officials at Snow Filtration Co. LLC told West Chester Township officials this week that they plan to close their Gano Road plant in March.

About 55 employees at the company, which manufactures wet and liquid filtration systems, will lose their jobs beginning in October. They will be notified 60 days in advance of being laid off, according to a letter to Trustee President Dave Tacosik.

In 1994, the township and Butler County granted the company a $5 million tax abatement that expires in 2006, county records show. The company was short jobs that it was supposed to create.

Staff reports

Tristate summary