Michael Kors to Open 50 Stores This Year

Michael Kors Holdings Ltd. (New York) has announced plans to open up to 50 stores in North America this year, plus units in Europe and the Far East.

According to a report in Women’s Wear Daily, the announcement was accompanied by a quarterly earning report that showed profits had more than doubled from a year ago, driven by new store growth.

Net income also more than doubled and total revenues rose 57 percent. Same-store sales jumped 36.7 percent and there were also 67 new store openings since the end of the year-ago fourth quarter.

“The year ended on a strong note with continued momentum in the fourth quarter as the brand’s strength, innovative fashion design and jet-set in-store experience drove strong sales and earnings across all businesses and geographies,” chairman and ceo John Idol told analysts. “We expect fiscal 2014 to be another outstanding year for Michael Kors as we continue to execute on our growth strategies.”

He told analysts that the company’s global retail store base increased to 304 locations, including concessions, from 237 for the previous year. The company is also halfway on its goal to have 1000 branded concept shops in North America.

WWD reported that the shops, averaging between 2000 and 2500 square feet, produce between $10 million and $15 million. Some of those better-performing stores have to be increased in size, Idol said, telling analysts “we are looking at upsizing a handful of stores more into the 5000-square-foot range. And again, we will still be very, very productive upsizing into that. Believe it or not, not a lot of that space will go into actual more presentation of product. It will go into stock space inside the stores just to be able to service the daily and, in some cases, hourly needs of what is happening in these very, very high productivity stores.”

Kors, which has 44 stores in Europe, plans to open another 40 in 2014. It has also raised its store footprint target to 200 in Europe from initial projections of 150 sites and will increase its Japanese presence from 29 stores to 36 this year with expectations that the business in Japan can support 100 retail locations for the brand.