Neiman Expands Chains

DALLAS-Luxury retailer Neiman Marcus is expanding all of the chains in its portfolio, some more quickly than others, depending on the spaces management can find. “We will not take a site unless it’s absolutely a double-A site,” said Burton Tansky, the company’s president and chief executive officer, during its fourth-quarter conference call.

This year Neiman will open two new full-line department stores, one in San Antonio, the other in Boca Raton, FL. Starting next year, the company has plans to open locations in Austin, TX and Natick, MA; Oyster Bay, NY and West Los Angeles the following year; Bellevue, WA in 2009; and Princeton, NJ in 2010. Executives are then forecasting an additional eight to 10 new units in the following next few years. The retailer opened its 37th department store, in Charlotte, earlier this month.

The retailer plans to nearly double its number of clearance centers over the next five years, increasing its total from 18 to 30. Cusp, a smaller-store concept launched this year that is geared toward younger, fashion-seeking customers, will get its third unit, in the Georgetown area of Washington DC, in February, and executives are planning another, yet-to-be-determined location later next year. “We view this as research and development and will take a prudent approach to further development,” Tansky says of the new chain.

Sales for Neiman’s full fiscal year, which ended July 29, reached the $4-billion mark for the first time, hitting $4.1 billion. Sales per-sf at its stores averaged $611, up from $577 during the same period a year ago.

Fourth-quarter same-store sales were up 6.8%, while total revenues were $915.5 million up from $839.8 million during the same year-ago period. Earnings dropped to $20.7 million compared to $46.8 million due to factors relating to its acquisition by Texas Pacific Group and Warburg Pincus last year for $5 billion.