One week after closing on an $86 million merger pact, Alley web apparel retailer Delias Corp. pulled the plug on iTurf.com after markets closed Tuesday afternoon, citing prohibitive investment costs.

A total of 25 employees were given pink slips and Delias said it expects to record a one-time charge of approximately $100,000 in connection with the shutdown.

Delias CEO Stephen Kahn said the decision to shutter the iTurf network was made after a comprehensive review of the company's online operations. "In conducting a comprehensive review of our online businesses, we decided that the disproportionately high cost of running iTurf.com prohibited ongoing investment," he said.

"We believe this is the appropriate step to position our online businesses for profitability in this difficult operating environment...While iTurf.com represented a small percentage of the network's overall online traffic, we had substantial resources dedicated to this site," Kahn added.

"Although the decision to close iTurf.com was a difficult one, we believe it enables us to deploy our financial resources and personnel more effectively, and will better position our online teen properties for success.''

iTurf was one of eight properties on the Delias network of teen-related sites, which includes gURL.com, TheSpark.com, OnTap.com, SparkNotes.com, Delias.com, droog.com, discountdomain.com and tsisoccer.com.

In mid-August, iTurf and Delias hammered out an $86 million merger pact where iTurf issued 1.715 Class A shares in exchange for each of Delia's common shares. A new company - Delia's iTurf Inc. - would have been created following the merger but, upon closing last week, Delias began trading on the Nasdaq exchange under the symbol DLIAD.

Shares in Delias, which runs a web shop for teenage clothing and a chain of stores, peaked around the $40.00 mark last year but it has been floundering below the $1.00 mark in recent weeks. Delias originally spun off iTurf in an IPO last April 1999.

Delias closed today at 81 cents this afternoon, up 12 cents or 18 percent for the day.