The real estate for the first 80 is already in place. Locally based Charming Shoppes recently acquired Casual Corner leases from Retail Brand Alliance. During the week of July 4, three additional outlet units will follow the Franklin Mills opening. They are in Gurnee Mills, Gurnee, IL; Colorado Mills, Lakewood, CO, and the Shops at Las Americas in San Ysidro, CA.
Month-long grand openings are scheduled. There are units planned in 32 states covering all regions of the country. California, with nine, will have the most. Pennsylvania and Texas follow with six units each. Another five are in Washington; four are in Ohio; and Illinois, Florida and Tennessee each will have three. The others are scattered in ones and twos across 24 states.
Dorrit J. Bern, chairman, president and CEO of Charming Shoppes, says in a statement, "we are delighted to be bringing fashionable Lane Bryant apparel to outlet shoppers . . . and at the same time embark on another exciting growth opportunity for Lane Bryant." She adds that the company will "continue to pursue additional locations."
During a February 2006 conference call, Bern said, "We project expansion of Lane Bryant Outlet to 150 units over time. Our new outlet team has actually identified 220 outlet opportunities."
Charming Shoppes is on an aggressive expansion plan. This March it began the rollout of Cacique plus-size lingerie stores and plans to open 40 of those units this year. The company acquired Lane Bryant from the Limited several years ago, and will grow regular-price Lane Bryant stores by about 80 units this year. This fall, the Lane Bryant trademark for catalogs, now owned by a Paris-based company, reverts back to Charming Shoppes.
"I'm counting the days," Bern said during the February conference call. Plans call for not only a Lane Bryant Apparel catalog, but also Lane Bryant Home and Lane Bryant Footwear catalogs. Under its current owner, the catalog generates revenue in excess of $300 million a year, according to Bern.
Charming Shoppes currently operates 2,251 retail units in 48 states under Lane Bryant, Fashion Bug, Fashion Bug Plus, Catherines Plus Sizes, Cacique and now Lane Bryant Outlet.
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