Laura Canada buys out Liz Claiborne stores

American fashion company Liz Claiborne is selling 38 of its Canadian stores to Montreal-based Laura Canada, which operates Laura, Laura Petites, Laura Plus and Melanie Lyne. Laura is expected to turn all of the locations—17 of which are in Ontario, all of them in suburban power centres—into Melanie Lyne or Laura concept stores and hopes to expand its operations to 170 outlets by the end of the year. Laura may not be our favourite place to shop, but it’s still a smug day for Canadian retailers.

• Laura to buy Liz Claiborne Canada sites [Reuters]