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Elfers started down the long road of repositioning the brand four years ago. A typical department store with 250,000 sq. ft. (about 23,000 sq m) can leverage its large size to get deep discounts on volume purchases. Lord & Taylor's petite 120,000 sq. ft. (11,000 sq m, aside from its New York store) made it tough to compete on promotions, price or depth of merchandise. So Elfers went smaller. In 2003 she closed 32 underperforming stores and then six more before the company's 2006 sale, placing the brand in higher-end markets. The profitable East...
...drives retail is getting back control of the brand, which is what they've tried to do," says Chen. "The Starbucks theory [of always expanding] doesn't work for fashion." Since 2003 Lord & Taylor has replaced 85% of its merchandise and reduced its style count 45%. The current 47-store chain is more akin to a specialty store: manageable, edited and easier to shop. "I think there will be a rallying cry for regional nameplates that bring charm and the service people are looking for," says Elfers. The plan is showing results. In 2006 the chain's sales and earnings...
Despite the progress, not everyone has as much faith in the department store's future as Elfers and Baker do. "Lord & Taylor is a problem child, a tarnished brand, and has a long way to go," says Howard Davidowitz, chairman of Davidowitz & Associates Inc., a national retail-consulting firm. "I am not sure, in the current competitive climate, that Lord & Taylor can stand on its own two feet and be a survivor." Davidowitz points to the fact that Baker paid top dollar for a minnow in a sea of powerful retail companies. The store is loaded with debt while seeking...
Even as Baker examines every aspect of the store, he's careful not to destroy what many people love about it. (He says he receives hundreds of e-mails from Lord & Taylor shoppers along the lines of "Please don't mess with my store!") His sensitivity has won over supporters. "He is a great partner," says Elfers. "If I had sat down and written an ending for Lord & Taylor, I don't think I could have written a better one." Die-hard fans can only hope she's right...
Like most things of consequence?summit meetings, megamergers, the creation of the latest I-technology?true power shopping takes place in hushed quarters behind closed doors and outside the purview of the average eye. And so on a recent Thursday at the Neiman Marcus store in downtown Dallas, what might have come across as a pristine but lightly traveled main floor was in fact a bustling $4 billion juggernaut in action, the unseen hum of luxury being served up like nowhere else...