Wet Seal Makes G+G Bid

NEW YORK CITY-Teen-girl retailer Wet Seal has put in a $15.2-million bid to acquire G+G Retail, the locally based operator of the 566-unit Rave, Rave Girl and G+G chains, which are found mostly in malls. G+G recently filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, and Wet Seal executives expect at least 116 stores to be closed as a result.

Last May, G+G’s former vice president of real estate, Josh Podell, told GSR that his company was rolling out a new prototype on which to model its 500-odd Rave stores, increasing their size from 2,400 sf to up to 3,000 sf. Podell’s G+G voicemail indicates that he left the company earlier this month.

“Right now we have two focuses: Change Rave and change Rave Girl,” Podell told GSR in a May interview. “We have a lot of growth in both of them, especially Rave Girl with only 70 stores. Once we fix what we feel what might be wrong with Rave Girl and change that, we have a lot of room to grow between the two concepts.”