Guess Developing New Retail Store Concept
Coming off record profits and revenues for 2006, Guess? Inc. is planning to launch a chain of stores called G by Guess that will be stocked with affordable clothing geared to a young crowd.
In a conference call with analysts on Feb. 14, Paul Marciano, chief executive officer of the Los Angeles business that makes clothes and has its own chain of stores, said Guess would expand all its retail formats as well as launch a new store concept.
The G by Guess stores, which will carry men’s and women’s apparel and accessories, will be open in shopping centers near middleand lower-income families and in outlet malls. “In the next two months, we will open the very first G by Guess store concept,” the chief executive said. “By the end of July, we will have at least 25 G by Guess stores. We are all very excited about the concept.”
The first store is expected to open in April at the North County Mall in Escondido, Calif.
Another concept that will be expanded in the future is footwear. “Footwear retail will be the next big wave for the next four to six years,” Marciano said, noting the company plans to open four to six footwear stores this year in North America to see how the concept works out and then expand to Europe and other areas.
All this expansion news came on the heels of record 2006 financial results for the company. During the fourth quarter, net income jumped dramatically to $45.7 million, a 77 percent increase over the same time period last year. Revenues for the year ending Dec. 31, 2006, were $1.18 billion, with net earnings of $123.2 million. —Deborah Belgum
