Desrosiers Leaving Charlotte Russe

Charlotte Russe Holding Inc., a growing mall-based specialty retailer of fashionable, value- priced apparel and accessories targeting young women in their teens and twenties, announced that Donna Desrosiers, executive vp and general merchandise manager for the Charlotte Russe chain, has resigned for personal reasons.

In addition, it announced that as a result of weaker than expected sales during the quarter, the company is now forecasting that comparable stores sales will decline mid to high single-digits during the first quarter of fiscal 2005, which ends Dec. 25, 2004. The company had previously announced a low single-digit comparable sales increase for the quarter.

“Sales during the first two months of the quarter have been disappointing, and particularly in November,” said ceo Mark Hoffman. “Our Holiday merchandise at the Charlotte Russe stores has not met with the level of customer acceptance we expected, and the progression of improvements at the Rampage stores has been slower than anticipated. We expect to experience greater intensity of promotional activities this year, especially given the sales weakness being reported by other mall-based junior apparel retailers. With the probability of higher markdown levels, our operating margin for the quarter is expected to decline sharply from the prior year level.”

Charlotte Russe Holding Inc., a mall-based specialty retailer of fashionable, value-priced apparel and accessories, operates 368 stores in 39 states and Puerto Rico, including eight new stores opened during the current quarter.