Delia*s Considers California Retail
Delia*s is coming West.
Look for the New York-based junior company with the influential catalog to open its first California store within two years.
That’s the word from Steve Kahn, chief executive officer of the New York-based company that began in 1993 as a niche direct marketer to high school and college girls, became wildly successful with its catalog, then took to cyberspace and the brick-and-mortar world of regional retail. Currently, there are 31 Delia*s stores and four outlet stores, with Chicago being the present western-most location in the company’s region. The company’s core businesses—the stores, the catalog and Delias.com—are expected to generate “about $170 million, $180 million in sales this year,” Kahn said.
The company currently does significant business with Los Angeles-based vendors—with West Coast vendors taking up more rack and shelf space than East Coast lines, according to Jennifer DiMassimo, divisional merchandise manager for Delia*s retail stores.
“The West Coast is extremely important for us,” she said. “We are purchasing a lot of quick-turn buys [there].”
Important Los Angeles-based Delia*s vendors include Realitees, Stella, Space Girlz and Miken Clothing, according to DiMassimo. The company also does business with Tag Rag, Hot Kiss, Roxie, Bubble Gum, Fine Clothing and Paris Blues, as well as with two local knit-driven vertical mills, which the company prefers not to identify.
The retail-store expansion to California malls is a natural one, Kahn said.
“I’m extremely excited about the opportunity to actually take our mall-based concept to California,” he said.
“You will see the first Delia*s in California the minute we feel like we have the appropriate operations capability for us to be managing on both coasts,” he added. “I would say within two years.”
There’s one more reason for coming West: Within four years, according to the most recent studies, the Golden State will add approximately one million more teenagers to its population. And those are kids retailers can expect to see prowling the malls and searching out trends. And when they do, Delia*s expects to be there.
