Charming Shoppes Closes More Stores

Charming Shoppes, the owner of the plus-sized women’s Lane Bryant, Fashion Buy and Catherines chains, will close between 100 and 120 underperforming stores this year, management revealed with its fourth-quarter results. The news comes as same-store sales dropped 12% during the period.

In the last year, Charming Shoppes closed 152 stores. The company currently operates just over 2,100 units across the country.

Uh Oh…Gap’s Launching Another Chain

It looks like Gap Inc. is getting ready to roll out another chain. The company is testing stores for its female athletic brand Athleta in the San Francisco area.

Athleta, acquired in 2008, is currently online only. As part of Gap’s direct division, sales sales of the brand are increasing rapidly, and the concept sounds similar to Lululemon, a retailer that’s doing extremely well financially.

Would Best Buy Acquire RadioShack?

The New York Post reports that RadioShack could put itself up for sale and one potential buyer could be Best Buy. The reason Best Buy might show interest is because it has tested smaller stores and wants to make bigger waves in the wireless and handheld business, the paper asserts.

Other options for RadioShack include finding another buyer, or using its $900 million in cash to take on a major share buyback or undertake its own large acquisition of another outfit. Some, however, are skeptical that anyone would purchase RadioShack.

Starbucks Ready for Growth Again

Starbucks is ready to start opening cafes again after a couple years of cost cutting resulted in the closure of hundreds of locations. During its fiscal year, the company plans to add 100 US stores as well as 200 internationally.

Management has high expectations for improved sales growth as the economy recovers. Starbucks also declared its first dividend at its annual meeting of shareholders yesterday.

Saks Will Close Stores

Saks will close “a few stores” that are underperforming and have expiring leases, according to CEO Stephen Sadove speaking at a recent investor conference. Saks will not be breaking any leases because of the high costs that process involves, he says.

Sadove didn’t specifically name any stores it will shut, but yesterday the company announced that it will close two stores in Portland, OR’s Pioneer Place Mall, which is operated by General Growth Properties.

Can GameStop Sustain Its Growth?

GameStop plans to open 400 stores this year on top of the 6,450 it already operates worldwide. That is up from 388 last year, and in 2008, it rolled out 674 locations.

Landlords likely love a rapidly expanding retailer, especially during these times. But is there any concern that it could eventually face a fate similar to Blockbuster?

Rue21 Opening 100 Stores

Sure, it won’t make up for the vacancies left behind by Circuit City and Linens ‘n Things, but some retailers out there are sizably expanding. The latest is value teen apparel chain Rue21, which plans to open 100 new stores this year.

The retailer, which went public late last year, currently operates 535 units in strip centers, mostly in secondary markets where this kind of expansion is probably needed.

Blockbuster To File Chap. 11…Or Will It?

In a regulatory filing yesterday, Blockbuster Inc. mentioned that it would have to file for bankruptcy if it can’t deal with its $1-billion-plus debt load. Not much of a surprise there.

But CEO James Keyes, in an interview with Bloomberg, discounted that language in the filing, saying it was required by the company’s attorneys. He didn’t deny, however, the company’s annual lost last year of $558.2 million.

Williams-Sonoma Shrinking Store Count

Williams-Sonoma will close stores in larger markets where it operates a high unit count, executives said last week at an investor conference.

“Our strategy for store closings is to optimize our cost per square foot,” CFO Sharon McCollam was quoted in the Wall Street Journal. The goal is not closing stores per se.” She offered no specific locations for closure.

FCUK Will Close Most US Stores

French Connection Group doesn’t have a large US store presence, but the one it has will get a lot smaller. The British apparel retailer is closing 17 of its 23 stores here after posting a fiscal-year loss.

While its store count isn’t large, nearly all FCUK stores are in prominent locations in the US, either in the most dominant mall, urban shopping area or outlet center in their locales.