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Samsonite sets out for new 'World'

By Debra Hazel

One month, golfing is center stage -- the next, Las Vegas. At luggage-maker Samsonite's newest retail venture, Samsonite World of Travel, the major theme is leisure time and how to spend it -- away from home.

Samonsite World of Travel featured a putting green when it opened at Tysons Corner Center.

The 5,300-square-foot store, which opened in December at Tysons Corner Center in McLean, Va., is designed to showcase its brands and create a new identity.

"Our ultimate goal is that Samsonite is not a luggage brand, but a travel brand," said Mark Korros, president of Samsonite USA, a division of Denver-based Samsonite Corp. Promoted to his current post in February, he had been president of Samsonite Co. Stores, Warren, R.I.

Charles Cope, SCSM/CLS, Tysons Corner General Manager, noted that it's not just a luggage store.

Tysons Corner, managed by The L&B Group of Dallas, already had a luggage specialty retailer, Travel 2000, when talks first began with Samsonite, Cope said. "What was intriguing was that it was a new corporate prototype, and I liked being the first [to have it]."

What he also liked, Cope said, was the way a comparatively large specialty store had divided itself to provide a more intimate shopping experience for its customers. A series of permanent and temporary theatrical settings present a variety of vignettes to showcase Samsonite's luggage and other travel-related items.

In its debut, the store featured a golf cart and customer putting green in its rotunda. Adventure-oriented travel is represented in a rainforest-themed facade and rock flooring. A historic urban district features an old-fashioned haberdasher and cafe with shelves holding luggage.

"The three distinct departments serve different markets: One is more for backpacking, another more suitable to a formal business trip to London or Paris. The third is more island-like, and is halfway between the two other formats in its feel," Cope said.

The store offers a complete selection of the latest lines from Samsonite, American Tourister and Lark Luggage, as well as Buxton leather accessories, Coleman outdoor gear, Hasbro travel games, Kodak film and Swiss Army knives.

A Rand McNally Reference Center allows shoppers to plan trips by offering maps and guides, as well as computer terminals. And at press time, a travel agency was set to open in April.

Expanding beyond luggage was vital to capturing customer loyalty; after all, people don't buy suitcases all that often.

"In an industry as fragmented as ours, where people replace luggage every seven years, we must find new and entertaining ways to sell if we want to grow our business," Korros said.

There is more than one aspect to that business: Samsonite wholesales its goods to department and specialty stores around the country, including Tysons anchor Bloomingdale's. The store configuration is one way Samsonite is avoiding competition with some of its best customers.

That appeal is what drew Cope to the store, he readily admits. The center does not have a travel agency among its tenants, so World of Travel provides an additional service to its shoppers, Cope noted.

"We have a traveling demographic," he said. "We have a lot of government employees -- and they need suitcases and other travel items.

"With 230 stores, I have some pretty good shoe and dress chains. I wanted something different," Cope said.

Samsonite isn't new to retail. American Tourister opened its first outlet store in 1981, though it was not a Samsonite subsidiary at the time (it was acquired in 1993). The parent opened its first outlets in the early 1990s, Korros related. Today the firm operates 192 outlet stores, as well as a Travel Expo concept totaling 10,000 square feet. Locations opening this year include Sawgrass Mills, in Sunrise, Fla. (now under construction); Palisades Center in Nyack, N.Y.; The Fountains in Stafford, Texas; and Pointe Orlando, Fla.

In fiscal 1999, retail store sales grew 18.1% to $128.6 million, with improved profit margins. However, Samsonite Corp. posted sales of $697.4 million for the year ended Jan. 31, 1999, vs. sales of $736.9 million in the same period the previous year. The decline was attributed to lower sales in the U.S. wholesale division, which dropped 33.4% from the previous year, the company said.

The firm hopes to open two more World of Travel stores this year, Korros said.

"The key would be port cities, probably on the East Coast."