• Los Angeles Times, Friday, June 8, 2007 11:30 AM

A "survival-of-the-fittest" battle for display space has turned the traditional department-store floor plan on its head. Increasingly, private and exclusive labels--cost-effective for national chains--are assigned choice locations near the entrance or are given sprawls of square footage.

While any big-name brands still get decent play, Macy's, JCPenney and other stores increasingly are focusing on their own fashions, putting them in intense competition with the very manufacturers that helped build the stores' business in the first place.

A demoted national name can find redemption, though only if it comes up with clothing a retailer decides is hot--or hotter than its own lines at least. "If you're a brand, you're either right or you're gone," says Britt Beemer, chairman of America's Research Group.

Read the whole story at Los Angeles Times »