Wet Seal COO Exits, Position to Remain Unfilled
Gary White, the chief operating officer for teen retailer The Wet Seal Inc., resigned on Feb. 26 to take the job of chief executive for United Retail Group Inc., based in Rochelle Park, N.J.
Wet Seal will not be hiring anyone to replace White, according to a prepared statement from the company, which is based in Foothill Ranch, Calif. Rather, his role will be assumed by Wet Seal Chief Executive Ed Thomas, who joined the company in October.
An unfilled chief operating officer job was no cause for alarm, according to Jeffrey Van Sinderen, a retail analyst who follows Wet Seal. Ed Thomas previously served as chief operating officer and president of Wet Seal from 1992 to 2000. “The company saves money by not having to hire somebody,” said Van Sinderen, who works for Los Angeles–based B. Riley & Co. “They take out a layer of management that they don’t need.”
On Jan. 25, Thomas announced that he cut 51 positions from Wet Seal to save funds. He also said that the company will scale back on store growth to focus on store productivity. For the retailer’s third quarter, which ended Nov. 3, net sales increased 4.9 percent compared with the same quarter in the previous year, but same-store sales decreased 3.4 percent.
—Andrew Asch
