Worship the new

From humble beginnings on the campuses of America, Steve & Barry’s has grown rapidly to become a firmly established retail empire. RLI talks to the company’s President, Andy Todd, about the brand's commitment to providing high-quality innovative products at a fair price
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For over 20 years, US fashion retailer Steve & Barry’s has been changing the way consumers shop for casual apparel. Maniacal cost control results in the brand’s customers finding high quality clothing at astonishingly low prices. Steve Shore and Barry Prevor, business partners and best friends since they were teenagers, planted the seeds for their retail empire by selling t-shirts at flea markets across Long Island, New York, opening their first store in 1985 at the University of Pennsylvania. Other campus-based locations followed over the next 13 years and they opened their first mall-based location in 1998 near Detroit, Michigan. The last ten years have been spent expanding the chain’s national footprint and
product mix.

In 2007 alone, Steve & Barry’s introduced some of the most high-profile and industry changing product lines in all of retail. In June 2007, the company teamed with Sarah Jessica Parker, actress and winner of the Council of Fashion Designers of America’s 2004 Fashion Icon Award. Along with a team of Steve & Barry’s designers, Parker created her first-ever apparel line; called Bitten™, the collection of high quality, affordable sportswear for women of all ages and sizes is sold exclusively at Steve & Barry’s and all items are priced at $19.98 or less.
“Our stores offer a fun and friendly environment,” Steve & Barry’s President Andy Todd told RLI, “with entertainment programming on our video monitors, high quality wood flooring and fixtures throughout the store, and a laid-back sales approach that allows customers to take their time walking our aisles.”

Today, there are over 260 Steve & Barry’s anchor and junior anchor mall-based locations in 37 states, averaging 60,000sq ft in size, with plans for hundreds more. Each store offers shoppers a wide selection of jeans, t-shirts, sweatshirts, jackets, footwear and accessories for the entire family.
Staying true to its heritage, the company continues to offer licensed apparel from hundreds of colleges and universities, and in recent years has added many of America’s other favourite brands.

“We opened 70 new stores last year,” Todd continues, “including stores in four new states: Utah, Maine, Idaho, and Mississippi. Our most recent store openings this year were in Port Huran, MI; Wilkes-Barre, PA; Chambersburg, PA; and Queensbury, NY.”

The company is currently seeking anchor and junior anchor leasing opportunities in malls, power centres, strip centres, lifestyle centres, and standalones throughout the country.
“We evaluate each property on a case-by-case basis, and consider all types of demographics,” he explains. “Our store sizes range anywhere from 20,000 to 170,000sq ft and our uniqueness to look at a wide variety of properties helps pave rapid expansion and exponential growth strategy.”
And does Steve & Barry’s have a preferred ‘partner’, a retailer that the brand likes to be situated alongside?
“We’ve had success with all types of neighbour tenants. Whenever we open a new store, the neighbouring stores often see a spike in sales with all the new traffic we draw,” says Todd.

Steve & Barry’s plans to open around 70 stores during 2008, in addition, in the spring of 2008, to Wonderwall™, a new ‘surf and skate’ clothing and accessories line created by world famous big wave surfer and epic waterman Laird Hamilton. This marks Steve & Barry’s entry into the category, and the brand will be exclusively available at its stores across the country.

For the full article please see the RLI May 08 issue