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IN BRIEF

80 Naturalizer stores to close

Brown Shoe Co. says it will close 80 underperforming Naturalizer stores by next April as part of an effort to further invigorate the 350-unit chain. “Over the last six years, we have rejuvenated the Naturalizer brand, lowering the average age of our customer by 15-20 years, and we’ve more than doubled Naturalizer’s market share in department stores,” said Chairman and CEO Ronald A. Fromm in a press release. The company says it will open about 30 Naturalizer outlet stores.

These changes will “focus our stores in high-traffic fashion and outlet malls where our Naturalizer customer shops,” said Fromm. Naturalizer’s first-quarter same-store sales rose 1 percent in the U.S. but fell 1.4 percent in Canada. Total sales across all the company’s brands, meanwhile, climbed 6.1 percent year on year, and sales at Brown’s overall wholesale operations rose 5.7 percent.

Besides Naturalizer, St. Louis-based Brown sells shoes under the Buster Brown, Connie and LifeStride names. The company also operates the Famous Footwear and Via Spiga chains. These closures will leave about 300 Naturalizer stores. The company did not say which units would close.

Database drives Pottery Barn Kids

Thanks to Williams-Sonoma’s powerful direct marketing database, its 90-store Pottery Barn Kids division has emerged as the sole success among several competing children’s furniture stores, executives said at an investor conference. Bombay Kids, Crate & Barrel’s Land of Nod, Ethan Allen’s children’s concept and Pier 1 Imports’ Cargo Kids have all stalled, said Sharon McCollam, Williams-Sonoma’s CFO. “None of those have seen any expansion, while we just hit $450 million in revenue,” McCollam said. Williams-Sonoma sees a lot of growth ahead for the 6-year old brand, she added.

The company’s catalog databases, culled from its stable of upscale catalogs, allowed Pottery Barn Kids to corner the market, said CEO Edward Mueller. “I’m not surprised the others have slowed down,” he said, pointing out that Williams-Sonoma’s database includes more than 60 percent of U.S. households with children and annual incomes of more than $100,000. “We knew where to put [the stores], and we could focus our marketing efforts.”

Lowe’s heads to Canada

Rapidly expanding home improvement retailer Lowe’s Cos. will open its first Canadian store, in Toronto, in 2007. This marks the Mooresville, N.C.-based home improvement chain’s first venture outside the United States. Lowe’s says it plans to open as many as 10 stores in Toronto that year, and possibly up to 100 throughout Canada. The company says it will set up an office in the Toronto area later this year, which Doug Robinson, the newly named president of the Canada operation, will oversee. Lowe’s operates about 1,100 stores in 48 U.S. states. Its chief rival, The Home Depot, entered Canada in 1994 through the acquisition of Aikenhead. Home Depot has more than 1,900 stores in North America, including 120 in Canada.

Stage Stores unfazed by economy

Small-town shoppers are calm about rising gas prices and interest rates, Stage Stores CEO James R. Scarborough told an investor conference in June. Stage Stores operates 549 Bealls, Palais Royal, Peebles and Stage apparel stores, mostly in towns with fewer than 50,000 people. “Our customer doesn’t know who Alan Greenspan is, and they probably don’t care,” Scarborough said. Stage Stores’ sales grew 27.8 percent to $1.2 billion last year. Its chains sell name-brand apparel in 18,000-square-foot stores on the East Coast and in the South and Midwest. The only economic indexes Stage puts stock in are the unemployment figures, said Scarborough. “Employment is a key driver of our sales — higher gas prices mean overtime at the refinery for our customers.”

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