Coldwater Creek Sees Continued Store Growth

BOSTON-Coldwater Creek is ramping up its store growth, opening 65 units this year to bring its total to 304 by the end of 2007. Eventually the apparel chain, geared toward women ages 35 to 60, could have 450 to 500 total stores across the country, said Mel Dick, the Sandpoint, ID-based retailer’s chief financial officer, here at the CIBC World Markets Consumer Growth Conference.

“We really want to take advantage of the growth in the market out there,” he says. Coldwater Creek’s stores average 6,000 sf and are found mainly in high-end malls and lifestyle centers.

Among this year’s new openings is the company’s first Manhattan store in New York City, an 11,000-sf location at 68th Street and 3rd Avenue, in early August. “We have a significant number of customers in Manhattan, Dick says. “There certainly might be the opportunity for additional stores.”