No, no, it's the deal he wanted closed.

• Position: Alexander Julian's Collection Clothing Corp. stores closed when buyout deal fell through

When Alexander julian's stores in Charlotte and Atlanta suddenly shut down, shoppers weren't the only ones surprised. The internationally known designer, who hails from Chapel Hill [cover story, January 1986] learned of the closings only after they were a done deal.

It probably was even more of a shock to the stores' 15 employees, who found out one afternoon in early January - the day before the doors were locked and the shelves stripped bare. Julian, who was out of the country, was notified by phone. The stores slipped through the cracks in a massive reorganization of his holdings.

"Tired of being traded around like a basketball star," julian formed Collection Clothing Corp. last year to bring licensees of his wholesale lines under one corporate umbrella. New York-based Alexander julian Enterprises, which owned the stores, was folded into the new company

Julian - Collection Clothing's chairman, though Harvard University's endowment owns more stock - had wanted to sell them to Doug Alexander, his regional retail manager in Charlotte. When that fell through, the stores were orphaned.

"I don't...