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STORES LURE TEENS WITH ACCESSORIES, FURNISHINGS

By Kimberly Pfaff

While girls like to shop multiple stores, Mishmash wants to keep them in one place.

What’s a trend-conscious teen to do when she has already stocked up on the latest clothes? Shop for the newest accessories, makeup, bath and body items, room decor and CDs, of course — preferably in one store that carries it all.

That’s the thinking behind the latest specialty retail category, teen lifestyle stores, which leave the low-rise jeans to fashion retailers and focus instead on the little extras that, as any teen girl knows, make life just a little more fun. And, goodness knows, these kids have enough to spend on such little extras: The average American teen-ager spent $104 a week last year, according to Northbrook, Ill.-based marketing research firm Teenage Research Unlimited.

Three newcomers, all less than three years old, are causing quite a stir within this category: Mishmash, owned by Too, which also owns Limited Too; Skinmarket, a privately held firm based in Santa Barbara, Calif.; and Charlotte’s Room, a spin-off of San Diego-based Charlotte Russe.

Though it’s too early for these concepts to have an established track record, they’ve already created a buzz.

“These stores add a level of interest and newness to the mall that we haven’t seen in a long time,” said Kimberly Greenberger, a research analyst at Credit Suisse First Boston in Manhattan. “They create excitement and a sense of discovery among shoppers, and they generate traffic.”

The key, observers say, will be to keep on top of the trends.

“They have to keep changing — it’s an absolute must. And they have to be unique,” said Barbara Ashley, president of Manhattan-based consulting firm Retail Ventures.

That’s certainly the mantra at Columbus, Ohio-based Mishmash, where merchandise arrives daily, said Robert Atkinson, the retailer’s director of investor relations.

“Our customer is in the mall once a week,” he said. “If we want her to visit the store routinely, we have to have something compelling every time she crosses the threshold into the store.”

As its name implies, Mishmash offers a diverse merchandise mix — from swimwear, sleepwear, intimate apparel, shoes and accessories to private-label and branded cosmetics, handbags, jewelry, throws, books and candles.

“There’s so much competition for the teen girls’ attention in the mall already in sportswear, we thought she’d like to find a single store to shop for these various categories,” said Atkinson.

Whereas Limited Too focuses on girls 7 to 14, Mishmash targets 14- to 19-year-olds.

“We’re not trying to dip down to a third-grader or go up to her mom,” said Atkinson. “We’re focused on a narrow range, and we cater specifically to her age.”

Opened in September, Mishmash had eight stores in “A” malls located in the U.S. Midwest, South and Northeast as well as California early this year. Four more locations will open in the spring. But a major expansion is slated for 2003, when the chain plans to open about 50 new stores.

“We plan to roll it out nationwide,” said Atkinson. “We think it could become a 700-store chain.”

While for the moment, executives are focusing on A malls, future venues remain wide open.

“We’ve had a great success with putting Limited Too stores in specialty malls and retail outlet centers,” Atkinson said. “Down the road, say three to five years, I’m guessing that Mishmash could go that route as well.”

Current stores average 2,000 square feet, and the firm is projecting about $650,000 in sales per store each year. Future locations will be 2,500 to 3,000 square feet.

Skinmarket
Founded a little more than two years ago, Skinmarket is designed as a cool, friendly alternative to the intimidating department store beauty counter: no pushy salespeople, just a whole lot of fun. Here teens can blend their favorite scents into body lotions and shower gels, get a makeover, listen to CDs in the music lounge and just hang out and explore. There are also teen-targeted books, magazines, CDs, bags, jewelry, belts, hair accessories, body jewelry and more.

Though the store targets girls 16 to 22, executives say the customer base is even broader.

“Young girls love the store, but we also do big business with mothers,” noted Claudine Murphy, vice president of marketing. “We have a brown sugar scrub line that’s become legendary. Women in their 30s and 40s come in, and they have to have it.”

In addition to its 30 stores, Skinmarket has three custom-built kiosks, called Beauty Bars, focused on cosmetics. The company plans to have about 17 Beauty Bars in A malls by year-end. “It’s an interesting way to increase brand exposure,” Murphy said.

A new store-design prototype is also in the works, slated for the late spring or summer; the location has not yet been decided.

Charlotte’s Room
Also targeting teens is Charlotte’s Room, a lifestyle spin-off of the popular Charlotte Russe apparel stores. About 10 percent to 15 percent of the store’s assortment is apparel, mostly sleepwear; the bulk of the merchandise focuses on picture frames, diaries, cell phone covers, lamps, mirrors, inflatable furniture, and other lifestyle products and accessories.

Store executives declined to talk about growth plans, and the company does not break out sales figures by brand. Since it opened in 2000, however, Charlotte’s Room has expanded into a variety of retail settings — from A malls to lifestyle centers — at a careful, measured pace. By the end of the year, the firm says it will have just 11 locations.

“I can only infer from their conservative approach to developing this, that there are hits and misses within this kind of concept, and that they would like a little more history in terms of performance,” said Credit Suisse First Boston’s Greenberger. “These are newer concepts; it’s not like apparel, which has been around forever, so it takes a little longer to fine-tune the assortment.”

Of course, all of these concepts were developed back when the economy was growing a lot faster than it is today. How are they likely to fare now?

“My suspicion is that they would withstand a downturn better than other segments,” said William Y. Hecht, vice president and national leasing director at The Rouse Co., Columbia, Md., which has one Mishmash store and three Skinmarket locations, with plans to add Beauty Bar. “Kids’ ability to buy products, whether it’s makeup or something for their room, doesn’t seem to diminish.”

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