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SUFFERN, NY-Dress Barn Inc. could double its newly acquired Maurices chain from the 477 stores it currently operates, executives said yesterday during an investor conference. The locally based retailer closed on the $320 million Maurices acquisition at the beginning of the month.

Maurices has a core store base in the Midwest and is poised for growth in the Northeast and Southeast. The chain differs from Dress Barn in that it targets 17-year-old to 34-year-old females and 17-year-old to 24-year-old males. Dress Barn's main customer is 35 to 55 years old.

Maurices opened 45 stores last year and posted a same-stores sales increase of 7%. The chain is mainly in small markets under 100,000 in population where many major specialty competitors do not have stores. Maurices is priced similarly to Old Navy, but is at the fashion level of American Eagle Outfitters, executives outlined in the presentation.