Opposition is growing to a retail company merger.

Acting at the request of Burbank city officials, state Atty. Gen. John Van de Kamp has asked the Federal Trade Commission to halt a proposed merger between May Department Stores and Associated Dry Goods that could force a Robinson’s department store to pull out of Burbank’s planned Towncenter mall. He said he is concerned that the proposed merger “would produce the possibility of anti-competitive conduct” that “will adversely affect mall developers and, ultimately, consumers.”