Two years after taking over as executive chairwoman and leading a turnaround, Vanessa Castagna will leave Mervyns on Feb. 1.

Cerberus Capital Management LP, the New York hedge fund that purchased Mervyns from Target Corp. in 2004, said Thursday that Rick Leto, president and chief merchandising officer for Mervyns, will take over day-to-day management of the Hayward-based, 172-store department store chain.

“Vanessa’s leadership was instrumental to Mervyns’ successful transition as an independent company,” Leto said in a statement. “We thank her for her commitment to the company and many contributions and wish her well in her future endeavors.”

The Mervyns announcement did not offer details about Castagna’s plans. She came to Mervyns in 2005 after leading a similar turnaround at JCPenney.

Castagna is credited with reviving Mervyns at a time when many retail analysts had predicted its demise. Target was blamed for neglecting Mervyns and Marshall Field’s, the upscale Chicago-based department store that was bought by Federated Department Stores Inc. and converted into Macy’s.

After taking the reins, Castagna closed more than 70 underperforming Mervyns stores, exiting a number of markets in places such as Michigan and Oklahoma that were geographically isolated from the retailer’s core markets in California and the Southwest.

She also refined the store’s merchandise offerings and launched a major remodeling initiative in the chain’s aging stores, bringing in new flooring, lighting and product display fixtures.

After closing stores, Castagna presided over the opening of four new Mervyns stores this past fall in California, Arizona and Texas.

East Bay Business Times

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