Bombay Pushes Bricks-and-Mortar Cuts

FORT WORTH, TX—Landlords, particularly those of the mall variety, might need to sharpen their pencils when dealing with the Bombay Co. if they aim to retain the upscale home furnishings retailer. That, at least, seemed to be the unsubtle message during a Thursday conference call in which CEO David B. Stewart lauded rising Internet revenues and announced the hiring of a real estate services firm “to rationalize our store networks” in the wake of a difficult 2006.

“We intend to close a significant number of underperforming stores in 2007,” Stewart pledged, and officials later said that 75 of Bombay’s 441 retail units will be vanquished after 16 stores were shuttered in the fourth quarter of 2006. Operations featuring the Bombay Co. “KIDS” off-shoot are most in jeopardy as 33 of those will be purged, part of a larger program to roll that line back into the main store umbrella.

DJM’s charge is to assist Bombay in negotiating lease terminations or restructuring agreements, Stewart explained. The company also referenced a concept of moving certain stores to “off-mall locations … where the existing mall leases cannot be renewed at economic rental rates.” As of this week, Bombay operated 195 mall stores, 199 off-mall and 47 outlet locations.