Article Excerpt:
TWST: Have there been any changes to Reitmans over the past two years? What do you see as your primary business today and how are you attacking that market?Mr. Reitman: Reitmans is a ladies apparel specialty retailer. We are the largest firm in Canada in specialty retailing. We are operating today approximately 876 stores in six distinct banners, the mother ship being Reitmans. Then we have Smart Set, RW & CO., Thyme Maternity, Penningtons, and Addition Elle. And, as I said, we have 876 stores in operation consisting of, in numbers, 355 Reitmans, 163 Smart Set, 32 RW & CO., 67 Thyme Maternity, 144 Penningtons, and 115 Addition Elle. Basically, Reitmans operates in malls as well as off-malls in power centers or strips. Smart Set is almost exclusively malls and a little off-mall. Penningtons is almost exclusively off-mall, and Addition Elle also is a mall operator. RW & CO. is a mall operator, and Thyme Maternity is basically a mall operation. Reitmans is the mother ship, so to speak. It's the largest of our operations, and basically the stores' average is 4,300 square feet, offering a complete range of apparel and accessories in regular, plus and petite sizes, at popular prices. Smart Set is more junior, averaging 2,000 square feet, and the customer focus there is 18 to 30, with a complete range of coordinated sportswear, ready-to-wear, and accessories. RW & CO. is our smallest division. We have some men's wear in RW. It's an urban upscale sportswear operation. It's 4,100 square feet and, again junior ' 18 to 30 ladies' and men's. Men's is about 40% of the business, with active, casual, city clothing, and accessories at moderate price points. Thyme Maternity is Canada's largest retail maternity operation with 66 stores or so, operating in 2,200 square feet, and I'd say it's more moderate than popular price. Penningtons is the plus-size, off-mall business. It's 6,200 square feet on average with a very broad assortment of career, casual, intimate apparel, and accessories for plus-size women of all ages. We have a junior oriented plus-size brand called MXM, which we have in both Penningtons and Addition Elle. And Addition Elle is for mall operation of our plus-size offerings and in somewhat larger stores, in the malls, 4,600 square feet and basically somewhat more upscale than the off-mall operation at Penningtons.
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