bigpoppanils Posted February 2 Report Share Posted February 2 Keep the underwear, dump the clothesVictoria's Secret is safe but analysts say Limited Brands may axe its low-performing apparel chains.February 1, 2005: 4:01 PM ESTBy Parija Bhatnagar, CNN/Money Staff WriterNEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Limited Brands has clearly found greater success in undressing consumers with its fashionable Victoria's Secret lingerie than in keeping them dressed in its Express and Limited clothing brands.So could the retailer toss its struggling apparel businesses altogether and focus entirely on its profitable lingerie, skin care and perfume brands?Afterall, sales at Express and Limited have been hurting for some time from a string of fashion flops while Victoria's Secret is the company's most meaningful earnings contributor, accounting for more than 90 percent of Limited's total annual profit.Some industry analysts speculate that Limited may indeed be thinking along those lines.Columbus, Ohio-based Limited Brands (Research) last month announced that the company was reorganizing itself into three distinct business units to focus on lingerie, beauty/personal care products and apparel.The specialty retailer also named three presidents to lead the groups. Limited executives said the move was needed to speed up growth plans."We are poised for accelerated future growth and we need the depth and breadth of leadership to achieve it," Limited's CEO Leslie Wexner, said in a statement.In a recent note to clients, Lazard Freres analyst Todd Slater called the divisional restructurings "largely a formality.""As these distinctions seem to have already been made, [the restructruing] news appears to advance Limited's well-telegraphed goal to invest in growth brands or markets and divest away from underperforming assets," Slater wrote.Specifically, Slater thinks continued weak sales at Express and The Limited put those two units in the danger zone. In December, Limited posted sales at its stores open at least a year up two percent, led by an 11 percent gain at Bath & Body Works and a 4 percent gain at Victoria's Secret stores.At the same time, same-store sales for the month at Express tanked 18 percent and declined 3 percent at The Limited."With CEO Les Wexner's official focus now largely on the company's lingerie and beauty/personal care franchises, we believe the apparel segment will be gone by 2006, short of a miraculous recovery," Slater said.Making 'strides'?For its part, Limited declined to comment on Slater's report, saying that the company does not respond to speculation.However, Limited spokesman Anthony Hebron drew attention to CEO Wexner's comments to investors and analysts at the company's annual meeting last October in which the talked about the company's "significant strides in apparel.""Express is well into the process of a substantial transformation and is proving itself as a significant dual-gender, high-quality apparel brand," Wexner said at the time. "While much hard work needs to be done, we believe the opportunities for growth across our brands are significant."Mark Montagna, retail analyst with Wells Fargo Securities, said he wouldn't be surprised if the company jettisons its low-performing units."Limited is a company with very deep pockets, with over $2 billion in cash. So its been able to withstand the poor performance of Express and Limited thus far," he added. "But why would it want to hang on to these units when they're continuing to be a drag on both sales and profits?Limited has a history of divestitures, including Lane Bryant in 2001 and Lerner New York in 2002. But it's also known for the strong brands it has spun off. Victoria's Secret and Bath and Body Works divisions of Limited's Intimate Brands division were both once units of The Limited."It's widely expected that Limited will get rid of the apparel business and just keep beauty and lingerie," Montagna said, who has a "hold" rating on the stock. "Maybe this new layer of management that they just announced is being put in place to craft a spinoff of the apparel units." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
michelle65 Posted February 2 Report Share Posted February 2 thats cuz express sucks- completely overpriced, so many other stores offer the same quality/styles but for much less $$ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raincry Posted February 2 Report Share Posted February 2 thats cuz express sucks- completely overpriced, so many other stores offer the same quality/styles but for much less $$ that's true.....the styles have gotten worse imo......but i still like the limited...i like shopping there for my work clothes sometimes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kfitz73 Posted February 2 Report Share Posted February 2 They were overpriced, but if you catch a sale there it's usually 50% off... One of my friends is a manager at Express so I hope she doesn't lose her job... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stompy Posted February 2 Report Share Posted February 2 goodbye! crowina 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nSyNcBaBy Posted February 3 Report Share Posted February 3 PEACEmaybe theyll do away with my express credit card debt that ive had for 2 years... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mssabina Posted February 3 Report Share Posted February 3 i've always thought express was overall crappy but i gotta admit, every once in a while they had a cute piece or two in there... i have a pink 3/4 sleeve cashmere cardigan with rhinestone buttons from there thats so sweet... not the best quality but on sale for 40 bucks it's no big deal... cute ribbon belts too... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lolahotass Posted February 3 Report Share Posted February 3 I like express but they are wayyy over priced.I get the same shit at NY&CO for half the price. Great for work clothes imo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nifer Posted February 3 Report Share Posted February 3 Afterall, sales at Express and Limited have been hurting for some time from a string of fashion flops while Victoria's Secret is the company's most meaningful earnings contributor, accounting for more than 90 percent of Limited's total annual profit. i knew express was doing bad, but not THAT bad. agree with the others though, the price points kept going up, but the overall quality of their product hasn't really changed. they tried to appear "high fashion" with their 'design studio' marketing, but that didn't work. it's EXPRESS for chrissake! that being said though, i have found a few things on sale there that i like. if they weren't on sale though, i definitely wouldn't have bought them. limited, on the other hand, does have some nice things for work. but for work clothes, i'll just stick with bennetton and kenneth cole. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vixengirly Posted February 3 Report Share Posted February 3 hahahaha....greatm now i dont have to quit! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ladyshady Posted February 3 Report Share Posted February 3 Express sucks anyway...Good for little tank tops or whatev. and some cool costume jewlery Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgmodel Posted February 9 Report Share Posted February 9 thats cuz express sucks- completely overpriced, so many other stores offer the same quality/styles but for much less $$its complete garbage... and overpriced... hopefully they have extreme sales and can pick up some shit dirt cheap... thats about all its worth... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nutcase34 Posted February 9 Report Share Posted February 9 I like express but they are wayyy over priced.I get the same shit at NY&CO for half the price. Great for work clothes imo. I love NY&Co. They have some of the cutest work skirts. Express sucks. they should of dumped them a long time ago.VS is my favorite store. Hope they never dump that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aljedynak Posted February 24 Report Share Posted February 24 Lately Expess has definitely gone downhill. It always looks empty. Very dull stuff too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luvle02 Posted February 25 Report Share Posted February 25 Express should have never done away with there "Fast Cash". It brought a lot of people in. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fearlesss Posted February 26 Report Share Posted February 26 it was only a matter of time. It's ugly. I have not bought anything from express since they changed it from structure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
partytildawn Posted March 6 Report Share Posted March 6 its complete garbage... and overpriced... hopefully they have extreme sales and can pick up some shit dirt cheap... thats about all its worth...i agree their stuff is mostly garbage and thats why do sell it off at extreme sales really cheap. They'll always sell off shirts for like $4.99, $9.99, $14.99 or some redline sale like that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nyckitty69 Posted March 6 Report Share Posted March 6 I used to love express... after the remodelling, their stuff is soooo expensive and made in some place like macao or bangladesh. Where is the money going? - the actual tailor is getting $2.00 tops perhaps. All that $$ is going to pay for rent of their 5th ave place. screw that. Their latest spring season apparel is a rehash from last year. Why should I pay $ for lack of creativity.They changed their return policy from any time to 60 days... go figure.I can buy the same stuff at Limited or H & M for way cheaper.At least for bebe and banana republic,... overpriced but better quality, made in the USA too. Those 4 stores do it for me.i agree their stuff is mostly garbage and thats why do sell it off at extreme sales really cheap. They'll always sell off shirts for like $4.99, $9.99, $14.99 or some redline sale like that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dgmodel Posted March 6 Report Share Posted March 6 i agree their stuff is mostly garbage and thats why do sell it off at extreme sales really cheap. They'll always sell off shirts for like $4.99, $9.99, $14.99 or some redline sale like that.thats what its worth... they start off with like 40.00 for a shirt but settle at like 9.99 at the end... garbage... h&m/old navy put together to form express... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveespa Posted March 6 Report Share Posted March 6 PEACEmaybe theyll do away with my express credit card debt that ive had for 2 years... werddddddddddi jus bought a suit there.....shit was over $300......last yr i paid $200 for a suit there....def overpriced.....prices went up so much in that place.....i still love the store but defff overpriced!!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xoericajadexo Posted March 7 Report Share Posted March 7 Their clothes suck and are overpriced but I do have to say I like the jeans and dress pants. They are one of the few stores that carry long sizes..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lalate Posted March 7 Report Share Posted March 7 Girl was just telling me Sat how my express jeans are one of the best looking pair of jeans ever. I luv em (got em for $20 off the rack) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xoericajadexo Posted March 7 Report Share Posted March 7 I know I love their jeans to! I do have to give them credit for that, if they could just get a new buyer or lower their prices...... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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