River Island bonuses

Executives at River Island are in line for bumper bonuses of up to £1 million each in the New Year on the back of sparkling Christmas trading. The fashion chain, led by chief executive Clive Lewis and managing director Richard Bradbury, is wholly owned by the Lewis family through its Lewis Trust Group.

Insiders say the family prefers to pay out huge performance-related bonuses to its senior bosses rather than hand over equity in the business, In September, the company bucked the High Street trend by announcing profits for the full year had soared 70 per cent to £139 million.

With over 200 stores in the UK and a growing international franchise, River Island is one of the UK's largest privately owned companies. The company states it designs most of its collections in-house, to maintain the company's unique appeal on the high street.

www.riverisland.co.uk
2 January 2007

Record Christmas for Liberty

Iconic London department store Liberty has enjoyed a record Christmas as sales topped £5.6 million. Although sales were slow early in the four weeks to Christmas, they later picked up to end 6 percent higher than last year, despite a 20 percent cut in floor space. Last year, the company sold the part of the store that faces Regent Street for £70 million. “My team and I were delighted,” said chief executive Iain Renwick. “This stunning performance reflects customer response to Liberty 's very distinct offer.” He added that the company was “very pleased that we did this with the 20 percent less space. It is clear that the sale (of the Regent Street building) was the right decision for us.”

The store made more than £1 million in sales on 6 and 7 December. Renwick explained that the surge in sales was partly the result of a number of private shopping evenings the store held for its Liberty cardholders. The chief executive told the FT that retailers would fall into two distinct categories this Christmas: “the ones that held their own and did well, and those who are caught in the blancmange of the middle market.” Indeed, there have been reports of mixed results on the high street during the holiday period. While Woolworths issued a profit warning, John Lewis reported a rise in sales of 16 percent to a record £94.3 million. Many retailers whose results were not up to par complained of the relatively warm winter weather having an adverse effect on sales.

www.liberty.co.uk
2 January 2007

Jigsaw expands in California

London-based fashion chain Jigsaw opened its second flagship in California this week. The launch of the 3,000 square foot store, located on Beverly Drive in Beverly Hills , follows the opening of a 2,000 square foot store in San Francisco last month. The company already operates two other stores in the Los Angeles area, one in Pasadena and the other in Brentwood . The latter is the retailer's first US outlet. The two-year-old store's success is such that the company decided to expand in California . “We thought, if it was successful in Brentwood, which has a suburban-type feel, and is a lot like London in that way, it could be successful in other areas with the same feel,” Kimmy Ratican, Jigsaw's senior manager, told WWD. “The climate in San Francisco is almost exact to London .” To accommodate the softer climate of Southern California , the brand designed a specific US range. It includes light weight cashmere knits, angora rib sweaters and a wool sweater dress for fall.

Jigsaw is a privately held company, established 37 years ago. It currently has 47 stores in the UK and net sales for the year ended September 2004 were £77.9 million, with a net profit before tax of £9.0 million. The company also has concessions at seven outlets of the American retail chain Parisian in the southern US. According to Edward Atterton, director of Jigsaw's US operations, Jigsaw chose to establish itself on the West Coast, because it “has allowed us to work out who the Jigsaw customer is. If we were in New York , we would have hit the ground running. Here we can control costs, and grow the company organically.” He said the company is open to further expansion on the West Coast, but also the East Coast and the Midwest . “But we don't wan to rush,” he said. “First we want to get these stores right.” Without divulging sales figures, he said he was “very pleased” with the performance of the US stores.

www.jigsaw-online.com
26 October 2006

Beyond Retro opens Soho store

Beyond Retro has opened its vintage clothing doors in a large-scale boutique in London 's Soho . The Great Marlborough Street store is the third of its kind in Europe and its staff comprise of trend analysts, burlesque performers and illustrators. The new store promises to be just as exciting as their sister shop in trendy Brick Lane, which over the past five years has proved to be a firm favourite with stylists and trend-setters. You can expect to find thousands of one-of-a-kind garments, handpicked from all over the globe.

Beyond Retro's unique clothes have been worn by the likes of Kate Moss, Dita Von Teese, Kelly Osbourne, Naomi Campbell and Kylie, so you'll be in good company. Visit beyond retro at 58-59 Great Marlborough Street , W1 or go to www.beyondretro.co.uk.

19 October 2006

Brooks Bros. opens in London and Paris

Brooks Bros. has opened two flagship stores, in London and Paris , as part of its international expansion plan. The US menswear and womenswear retailer has opened both stores in prime locations, on the Rue Saint Honoré in Paris and on Regent Street in London . The purveyor of classic apparel is as yet unknown in these markets and is targeting multilingual, international clients in Paris and finds itself amidst tourist traffic on Regent Street .

Carla Annunziato, vice president of Brooks Bros. international division, told WWD that she expects the fashion-driven items – which include high-heeled riding boots and cropped suede jackets – to do particularly well in Europe . The retailer will also offer luxury goods like an ostrich feather handbag for €1.698 and a cashmere blazer priced at €898 and basics like button-down shirts, wool blazers and skirts. Only 15 percent of the company's offering consists of women's wear, but the Paris store has filled an entire room to womenswear. She declined to give first-year sales projections, but WWD quotes market sources' estimations of annual sales of $10 million (£5.25 million).

The UK flagship occupies 11,000 square feet divided over two levels. It is not the brand's first store in the UK , but it is the first offering womenswear and accessories. It also carries the boys' collection for the first time, with the boys' tuxedo already a popular item among women. Quilted suede jackets, shirts with French cuffs, silk and cashmere sweaters and fashion pearl jewellery are also doing very well, according to Annunziato. In Paris , fashion and luxury items are proving a success with consumers. Popular items there include a cashmere pinstripe shawl, a black sheath dress and women's shoes. No sales projections have been given for the Regent Street store however Edward Whitefield, chairman of Management Horizons Europe, told WWD: “As Brooks Bros. is a completely unknown brand in the UK and Europe , I'd expect it to do between £3 million and £4 million in sales in the first year. I don't see it being anymore than that. Your average shopper on Regent Street – 50 percent of whom are tourists from places like Eastern Europe , Japan and Saudi Arabia – hasn't heard of the brand. Brooks Bros. has a nice formula, but most people on Regent Street won't know the brand.” Executives were unavailable for comment.

Brooks Bros. is planning on opening 10 more stores in the UK over the next three to five years, which will bring the total here to 12. Last year it opened a store on Old Broad Street in the City.

www.brooksbrothers.com
1 September 2006

The London Scoop

Scoop, the one-stop Manhattan store for designer denim and casualwear, is poised to open a London version of its boutique. The group, who have not yet confirmed a site, are looking to open the store by the middle of 2007.

Scoop currently has 10 retail outlets in major cities across the US . It is known for its stock of trendy denim labels, such as Earnest Sewn, Paige and Gold Sign, as well as directional lifestyle brands such as C&C California, Marc by Marc Jacobs and Velvet. Co-Owner Stefani Greenfield told Draper's Record: “We've been Bringing British design to New York since 1997 and love the street fashion in London .”

19 June 2006

Massimo Dutti to open more Italian stores

Massimo Dutti is to open 60 stores in Italy over the next five years. Spanish owner Inditex made the announcement at the opening of the first Massimo Dutti store in Rome on Wednesday. It is the brand’s sixth store in Italy.
Marco Agnolin, director general of Inditex’s Italian division, told WWD that the company planned to open Massimo Dutti stores in Turin, Padua and Modena by the end of the year. It would also open outlets in Italy’s major airports.
The brand’s turnover in 2005 was €533.8 million.

www.inditex.com
16 June 2006

Commes des Garcons in Glasgow

Scotland will see its first-ever guerrilla store from fashion innovators Comme des Garcons. The Japanese fashion label, whose London flagship Dover Street Market is a mix of art, music and directional fashion, is looking at Glasgow to set up a guerrilla store.

The shop, located in a former warehouse, will open later this month and follows temporary sites in Berlin, Barcelona and Tokyo that stayed open for periods of up to one year before moving on.
Glasgow will be the first British city to get a guerrilla store.

5 May 2006

Marina Rinaldi opens in Edinburgh

Marina Rinaldi is set to open a store in Edinburgh. The Max Mara subsidiary, which caters to larger women, will open a store in Multrees Walk, behind Harvey Nichols, this July. The store will be the UK’s second outlet, beside the one in London’s Bond Street and will be flanked by labels like Calvin Klein, Mulberry, Louis Vuitton and Anne Fontaine.
A spokesperson for the Italian fashion brand acknowledged “the true essence of femininity in the abundance of curves” and told The Scotsman that women who wear the brand “never feel closed in by them but free to be themselves in an elegant fashion.”

www.marinarinaldi.com
5 May 2006

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