Quality Control

Stein Mart Inc. (Jacksonville, Fla.) announced that it will close 16 under-performing stores in 2003. The stores, cited for a lack of profitability, accounted for $5.2 million in operating losses in 2002 and averaged 40 percent less revenue per selling square foot than the chain as a whole.

“This is part of our initiative to improve not only individual store productivity, but the overall quality of the stores in our chain,” says Michael Fisher, Stein Mart's president and ceo. “We believe this action complements the progress we've made in improving our new store selection process, and provides us with a higher quality platform from which to move forward.”

Stores identified to close include Richardson, Texas, Greenfield, Wis., and Fayetteville, Ark. The 13 other stores have not been publicly identified yet, but it is anticipated that they will be announced and placed into going-out-of-business mode in the next few weeks.

Last year, Stein Mart, a discount retail chain featuring moderate to brand-name apparel for women, men and children, began revising its new store opening approach, taking into account more detailed analysis, psychographics (fashion awareness in the marketplace) and intensive local market research provided through a third-party consulting firm. The approach, combined with a more intensive store opening marketing strategy, resulted in the best sales-to-operating plan performance in the retailer's recent history for the 16 stores opened in 2002. Stein Mart plans to open 14 new stores in 2003.

Recently, it announced its total sales for the first nine weeks of 2003 were $222.1 million, down 9 percent from last year, while same store sales decreased 11.7 percent.