Charming to Close 207 Shoppes

Charming Shoppes Inc. (Bensalem, Pa.), the nation's largest operator of plus-size clothing stores for women — and third-largest specialty apparel retailer — has announced it would close its 77-unit Added Dimensions/The Answer chain and 130 of its Fashion Bug stores that are losing money or performing marginally.

Some 15 or 16 Added Dimensions stores will be converted to Catherine's Plus Sizes, another Charming Shoppes brand. And 44 of the remaining Fashion Bug locations will be converted to Lane Bryant stores.

“Since our acquisition of Lane Bryant, we have been reviewing our entire business to determine which of our brands would yield the highest returns for the company,” said chairman and ceo Dorrit J. Bern. “Closing our Added Dimensions chain of stores results from our decision to redeploy our resources to our other brands. Closing 130 underperforming Fashion Bug locations will improve the profitability of that division and of the company overall.

“The growth of the plus-size apparel business in the U.S. continues to outpace all other apparel categories,” he noted.

The company said the closings and conversions will take about a year to complete. It did not disclose the locations of the stores that will close, saying only that “the locations are dispersed throughout the country, and do not significantly represent any one geographic region.” Most of the closures will not be carried out until the second half of the 2003 fiscal year. By mid-year 2002, the company will have converted approximately 20 percent of the Added Dimensions stores to the Catherine's Plus Size format.

A company spokeswoman said Added Dimensions, with only 77 stores, was not large enough to support the overhead needed to maintain it as a separate brand. The Added Dimensions stores were part of the Catherine's Stores chain that Charming Shoppes bought in January 2000. When it bought the Lane Bryant chain last year from The Limited Inc., its operation expanded to almost 2500 stores operating under seven brand names. Most specialize in women's apparel in sizes 14 and larger. Many Added Dimensions and Catherine's stores are located close to each other and attract the same customers.

The Added Dimensions stores, concentrated in the Southeast and the Northeast, average store 3900 square feet, primarily in strip shopping center locations. The total square footage for the chain is approximately 300,000 square feet, which is about 2 percent of the total square footage under lease in the entire Charming Shoppes group.

Many retail analysts said they were expecting this because, since buying Lane Bryant, the retailer has needed to focus on its most profitable stores. “This is the time to do this,” said retailing analyst Walter Loeb. “Business wasn't good last year. It allows the company to go forward with its best stores.”

Loeb was quoted as saying he liked Charming Shoppes'previously announced strategy of locating new stores in strip shopping centers. Most Fashion Bug and Catherine's stores are in strip centers, while Lane Bryant stores are mostly in malls. “The large-sized woman feels comfortable in a strip shopping center, closer to home,” he said. “She's very loyal to those stores, and doesn't need to go from store to store in a mall.”