A county seat is a town which is the capital of a county. It is often, but not always, an incorporated municipality. County-wide politics and government are conducted here. The county courthouse and county administration are usually located in the county seat.
The power of the county government varies widely from state to state as does the relationship between counties and incorporated municipal governments.
In Virginia, many county seats are politically not a part of the counties they serve; under Virginia law, all municipalities incorporated as cities are independent cities and are not part of any county. Some of the cities in the Hampton Roads area (Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Newport News, Hampton, and Suffolk) were formed from an entire county. These cities are no longer county seats, since the counties ceased to exist once the cities were completely formed, but are functionally equivalent to counties.
In some New England states, such as Connecticut, parts of Massachusetts, and Rhode Island, counties are only geographic designations and do not have any governmental powers. All government is either done at the state level or at the municipal (town or city) level.
In Louisiana, the parish is the name used for counties. As such, the parish seat would be the equivalent of the county seat. The city of New Orleans is coterminous with, and identical to, Orleans Parish.
The state of California has one consolidated city-county, San Francisco. The city's board of supervisors govern both aspects, and there is both a city police department and a county sheriff, the latter mostly responsible for operating the county jail (which is located in adjacent San Mateo County).
In Pennsylvania the city of Philadelphia also has the status of a county. In Maryland the city of Baltimore is distinct from the county of Baltimore. In Missouri, St. Louis City is separate from St. Louis County and is referred to as a "city not within a county."
CountySeat is also reinvigorating its high-end denim business, which had been hurt by slower activity in the Girbaud and Guess labels.
She expects CountySeat to be helped by the closing of several mall-based specialty stores, particularly chains owned by Merry-Go-Round and Edison Bros. If 1996 is a "smashing year," CountySeat may be able to try an IPO in 1997, according to Sisson.
CountySeat said sales in 1995 were hurt by a soft retail environment in the specialty store sector during the back-to-school and holiday seasons, as well as unseasonable weather much of the year.
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