California Apparel News

For more than 30 years, Bebe Stores Inc. has cultivated a niche as the mall-based clothier for the woman who loves nightclubs and la dolce vita, but during a Sept. 4 conference call, Jim Wiggett, the chief executive officer of the San Francisco–area retail chain, said that his company planned to expand its offerings beyond clothes for going out.

Wiggett joined Bebe in June, and during the conference call, he criticized the party-centric “9 to 5” advertising campaign of previous CEO Steve Birkhold. “It was too focused on clubbing and partying, and it reinforced a narrow brand positioning,” Wiggett said.

The retailer will expand its categories to offer clothes for the office, special occasions and sports as well as other categories. “Those are dimensions of her life as well,” Wiggett said. “It is a desire for self-expression and better fabrications. Those are things Bebe stands for. We’re not moving away from a customer. We’re educating her [to find] that we have more to offer her.”

To help direct this change of directions, Wiggett announced that Bebe had hired Mary Jimenez as senior vice president to direct the new merchandising direction. Jimenez has served as the vice president and general merchandise manager for Guess by Marciano and as vice president and general merchandise manager of design for Bebe’s Bebe Sport division. She also worked at eLuxury.com, an LVMH company. Wiggett also worked at LVMH as an executive vice president.

During the conference call, Wiggett stressed that the company would run on a leaner operating budget and it would also introduce a new store concept that would offer some avenues for omnichannel retail such as ordering garments by store iPads if they were not in stock.

Also on Sept. 4, Bebe reported results from its fourth quarter from its 2014 fiscal year, which ended July 5. Same-store sales declined 1.9 percent compared with a 7.9 percent decrease in the previous year. Net sales from continuing operations were $103.6 million, which was a decrease of 8.7 percent from $113.5 million from the same quarter last year. Net loss from continuing operations was $24.2 million, or 30 cents per share.