From Highly Profitable to Up For Sale - in 5 years

Collective Brands to close 475 underperforming stores as it considers selling itself

August 25, 2011 | By Katherine Field Boccaccio

TOPEKA, Kan. — Collective Brands, parent company of Payless and Stride Rite shoe chains, announced Wednesday that it would close 475 underperforming stores over the next three years and has hired a firm to help it explore its options.

The company hired Perella Weinberg Partners and Kurt Salmon as advisors to explore strategic alternatives.
Collective Brands reported a 2Q loss of $35 million on Wednesday, compared to a profit of $21.1 million a year earlier. The loss included a one-time charge of $83.6 million based mostly on the declining value of its stores and of Stride Rite’s trade name. The company currently operates 4,844 stores, of which 4,461 are Payless stores.

Of the 475 stores targeted for closure over the next three years, more than 300 will be shuttered by the end of the year, including about 275 Payless and 75 Stride Ride children's stores. The strategy, said Collective, is to optimize the performance of its Payless and Stride Rite stores.

"While the second quarter was challenging for the company, we are taking aggressive actions to improve the business," said CEO Michael J. Massey.

When You Start To Become Yesterday's News...

Profits trend lower at Urban Outfitters

August 16, 2011 | By Staff Writer

PHILADELPHIA — Urban Outfitters, which caters to a clientele with a unique and forward-looking approach to fashion and lifestyle merchandise, missed the mark during the second quarter, reporting a 21% profit decline and a same-store sales slip of 2%.

But Can They Stay In-Stock?

Game on for sports fans at Old Navy

August 16, 2011 

 

NEW YORK — Gap’s Old Navy unit rolled out more than 1,000 sports-oriented store-within-stores Game on for sports fans at Old Navy

August 16, 2011

Tuesday, selling branded goods of more than 70 Division I schools, as well as National Football League teams.

The Super Fan Nation in-store concepts are being launched with a seven-figure marketing campaign that will include advertising at college stadiums and arenas, in-store appearances by college bands, cheerleaders and mascots, and a 10-day national television advertising campaign.

Old Navy began selling some sports merchandise in 2009, and the retailer said strong historical performance from the category made the expansion a natural fit. “The sports connection should have always been part of our DNA,” said Michelle Wlazlo, senior VP for merchandising.

The sports apparel and merchandising are exclusively designed for, and sold at, Old Navy. Clothing items will begin at $14.94, while accessories will retail from $5.50.

www.cpointe.com 

The Question - What Took So Long?

Game on: GameStop offering in-store purchase of PC titles

By ghoffer

Created 07/28/2011 - 16:36

GRAPEVINE, Texas — GameStop announced that it is now offering customers the ability to purchase digital PC games at their local store and access the titles immediately at launch. This service is available exclusively at GameStop and customers can use any form of accepted payment to make their purchase. "Deus Ex: Human Revolution" is the first of what will soon be many titles to support this new purchase method, the company reported.
“This is a great illustration of how the digital distribution model and in-store experience really complement one another,” said Steve Nix, GameStop’s general manager of digital distribution. “We have seen great success selling DLC for console titles in our stores, so expanding on that model and helping customers discover digitally distributed PC games in stores is a natural fit.”