Windsor Announces Midwest Expansion
Windsor, a Los Angeles–based dress-boutique chain, is finding gold in America’s heartland, according to company Vice President Ike Zekaria.
“We find the further away you get from the coast, the stronger the dress business becomes,” Zekaria said of the company’s decision to build four new stores in the Midwest. “Wherever high school football leads on the sports page, the dress culture is huge. That’s why our expansion is going there.”
More than 40 percent of Windsor’s revenue came from dress sales in 2003.
In the first week of September, Windsor plans to build 5,500-square-foot stores in the Chicago Ridge Mall and the Gurnee Mills shopping center in Chicago. The company will also open a 5,000-square-foot store in Milwaukee’s Brookfield Square on Sept. 2.
In November, Windsor will build a 5,200-square-foot store in the Dallas Galleria. In February 2005, the company will return to Chicago to build a store in the Yorktown Mall. Zekaria said the growth spurt will increase the number of Windsor stores to 38 doors.
Windsor is also plunging into the bridal business. All 38 stores will devote more than 200 square feet of floor space to the new Windsor Bridal Collection. Zekaria said the rollout of the bridal store will attract customers who are older than the high school girls who shop at Windsor for prom dresses.
“It’s also more of a year-round business,” Zekaria said of the bridal collection. “It also spikes in June and July, when prom season ends.” —Andrew Asch
