Thursday
December 11, 2008
Office Depot has announced that they are closing 112 under performing stores over the next three months. In addition, they are slowing their expansion plans for 2009. Three stores are closing in my area. Office Depot joins Circuit City, Linens N Things and Boscov’s as retailers who have closed up shop in Monmouth County.
Last year, Office Max closed all but one of their locations in my county. With Office Depot leaving, this leaves Staples as the only national office supply chain with more than one location here.
Kohl’s has announced that they’ve entered into an agreement with Iconix Brands to become the sole distributor of Mudd Apparel. Starting in July of 2009, Kohl’s will oversee the product design and manufacturing of the Mudd line. Kohl’s currently carries the Mudd line in Juniors and Girls apparel, sleepwear, jewelry, accessories, and footwear. While the deal does not include the exclusivity to the footwear line, this deal expands on the success that Kohl’s has seen with the exclusive Candies’ brand license within the same departments.
In other Kohl’s news: Former Kohl’s executive vice president, Thomas Kingsbury, has been named the new president and CEO of Burlington Coat Factory. Kingsbury was previously the CEO and president of the Filene’s/Kaufmann’s division of May Department Stores. Kingsbury joined Kohl’s after Federated Department Stores acquired Department Stores.
Did you find this post helpful? Then, you should also view these posts:
Wednesday
August 15, 2007
The Channel Checkers are reporting that Kohl’s has started selling Vera Wang merchandise earlier than the advertised street date of September 9:
We have been surprised so far in our survey. 12 of the 25 (48%) stores we have called this week have told us that they already have the Vera Wang line and are selling it. We were told there is a Vera Wang perfume on sale at Kohl’s now too. Many of the stores that have the line appear to be in the Pacific Northwest and the Southeast. Stores in Washington and Oregon and South Carolina and Georgia provided the bulk of our positive responses. We called one store in New York City and they claim to be stocking the line already as well.
Read more at their site under: Vera Wang Line Sneaking Into Kohl’s Early.
In the past, Kohl’s generally rolls out their national branch launches in highly coordinated affairs, unveiling the new line in all of the markets on the same day. We saw this in 2005 with the launch of Candies, as an exclusive Kohl’s brand, and we’ve seen it through the past few years of growth in the Chaps brand. These launches, from new fixturing to promotions to actual merchandise are all tied in to hit the stores on the same day, with major national ad campaigns behind them.
There are exceptions to this: Casa Cristina rolled out in the Southwest in Q4 2006 prior to a national launch in early 2007. More contemporary lines, such as Elle and Stamp 10, have seen staggered growth after successful launches. The retailer has also tested new products and concepts on smaller levels before rolling out nationally – case in point is the recent addition of a private-label tuxedo line to the menswear departments of their stores in a slow rollout.
It does surprise me to hear that Kohl’s may have let this merchandise out early. It seems to be against their past behavior. Is Kohl’s really selling Vera Wang merchandise early in an attempt to reach out to some test markets? This is the largest brand launch in the retailer’s history – so perhaps it is time to do things differently than they have in the past.
Did you find this post helpful? Then, you should also view these posts:
More photos from work:
Top to bottom: Misses’ Chaps, Misses’ Daisy Fuentes, Juniors’ Candies, Men’s Chaps, Young Mens’ Tony Hawk, Boys’ Chaps and Women’s Apt. 9 & Daisy Fuentes.
Did you find this post helpful? Then, you should also view these posts:
Tuesday
February 21, 2006
In case you are wondering what I do for a living, I make mannequins look pretty (among other things). I am working on putting my portfolio online, but for now here are some of my recent mannequins:
Top to bottom: Chaps for Misses, Candies for Juniors, (Tony) Hawk Clothing for Young Men and Chaps for Men.
(The mannequins in the first photo are new and they have nipples, which none of my other female mannequins do not have. Nipples are not uncommon with mannequins, as most department store mannequins have them. The reason this is worth noting is because the mannequin on the right is wearing a very thin blouse that is apparently see-through with the flash reflection. My already creepy photos just got even creepier!)
Did you find this post helpful? Then, you should also view these posts:
