 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Shopping Centers Today -> July 2004
 PRINT THIS STORY: |
  CHANGE TEXT SIZE: |
|
SIX CHAINS WIN 2004 ICSC HOT RETAILER AWARDS
BY DEBRA HAZEL
Whether they sell apparel, teddy bears or “Two-Buck Chuck,” ICSC’s 2004 Hot Retailers find the keys to success are staying in touch with their customers, focusing on their core business and keeping it fun.
The second annual award ceremony took place at this year’s Spring Convention, with supermodel and lifestyle product entrepreneur Kathy Ireland playing host.
“The awards were created to recognize the hard work of North American retailers,” said Michael P. Kercheval, ICSC’s president and CEO. “The competition has never been as great to attract and retain customers. These retailers have that something extra.”
The retailers were selected through an ICSC survey of thousands of U.S. and Canadian mall marketing managers. The winners were Build-A-Bear Workshop, H&M, Hollister Co., Hot Topic, Trader Joe’s and Victoria’s Secret.
“From clothing and accessories to lingerie and health foods, these retailers are bringing products the public wants to buy,” said Ireland.
Despite their target audience being the often fickle American teen-ager, City of Industry, Calif.–based Hot Topic became the award’s first two-time winner. The chain, founded in 1989, now operates 540 stores and plans to open an additional 70 by year-end. Sales last year totaled $572 million.
In time Hot Topic could have up to 800 units, said Jerry Cook, the chain’s president, who accepted the award. Keeping up with teens, he said, is a matter of being where they are and going where they go, including attending concerts.
“We see it as a simple, but hard, answer,” Cook said. “[Our success] is based on knowing who our customer is. And the way to understand them is to spend time with them.”
Apparel chain Hollister, a division of Columbus, Ohio–based Abercrombie & Fitch founded in July 2000, also appeals to the younger set. The chain, which features a tropical motif, operates 177 stores and is set to open 85 more this year in regional malls.
“Hollister is more than hot — it’s on fire,” Ireland said.
“We’re trying to create an environment that is hip and cool, where they can hang out and shop,” said Jeff Sinkey, vice president of real estate at Abercrombie.
Those same qualities have also been attributed to H&M. The clothing chain, founded in Västerås, Sweden, in 1947, opened its first store in the United States in 2000. It has become a worldwide phenomenon for the trendy private-label clothing it sells at low prices. Today there are over 950 H&M stores in 18 countries worldwide, including 77 in the United States. The company plans to open some 140 additional units around the world this year.
“It’s like Starbucks,” said Jennifer Uglialoro, manager of public relations for H&M, who accepted the award. “You can’t escape H&M in Europe, and our expansion policy will be like that in the United States.
Remaining hot means never standing still. Accordingly, the 22-year-old Victoria’s Secret is pursuing a strategy of integrating its lingerie and beauty stores into larger single units. The company expects to convert some 40 to 50 stores this year, said Christopher Lanning, executive vice president, who was on hand to receive the award. The chain now has 1,009 stores, but that will shrink slightly to 997 stores with the integration.
The chain’s real key to future growth is in expanding the brands available in its stores and continuing to focus on certain products, Lanning said. “Being the best at bras really lifts up the whole organization,” Lanning said, to a mixture of laughter and groans.
Not every award winner was an apparel chain. Build-A-Bear Workshop sells custom-made teddy bears, complete with bear apparel and accessories. The St. Louis–based chain, founded in 1997, now operates 155 stores in the United States, Canada, Denmark, Japan, South Korea and the United Kingdom. The company plans to open about 30 more stores this year, including debuts in France and Australia.
The chain’s customer base is made up of shoppers age 3 to 103, says founder and “Chief Executive Bear” Maxine Clark. “It’s about love, what’s inside all of us that doesn’t always come out,” said Clark. “Our goal is to bring teddy bears every place we possibly can.
The first food retailer to win a Hot Retailer award is Monrovia, Calif.–based Trader Joe’s, which was founded as Pronto Markets in 1958.
“We’re all about value, information and fun,” said Chairman and CEO Dan Bane. “We [hire] people who like people.”
The company finds exciting food and beverage items from around the world and sells them under the Trader Joe’s label. But perhaps its best-known product is the so-called Two-Buck Chuck, the Charles Shaw wine that retails in California for $1.99 per bottle ($2.99 elsewhere). Bane says if all the bottles of Chuck sold by Trader Joe’s were stacked end-to-end, the line would wrap around the world.
Thus far the chain has resisted exploring new businesses, in sharp contrast to the rapid expansion of the rest of the supermarket industry. Neither is Trader Joe’s interested in selling over the Web, at least not for now, said Bane.
“We are very focused, and we only do what we do,” he said.
The chain has 217 stores, with 10 to 12 more to open this year. The company plans to open 25 new stores per year for the foreseeable future. The privately held chain’s sales exceeded $3 billion last year.
All the chains save Victoria’s Secret displayed their products at the ceremony.
“Retailers are the heart and soul of the centers,” said Kathleen M. Nelson, ICSC chairman for the 2003–2004 term. “I’ve seen countless magnificent structures, but what separates the exceptional from the outstanding is the tenants.”
 | Current Issue March 2010 |