Walking into a Casual Male
That's where Casual Male has excelled. The largest large-size retailer has met the needs of men who don't fall within the proportions that clothing manufacturers typically sell in department stores. Sales in the second quarter rose to $111.8 million from $100.6 million a year ago, while profits rose to $3.4 million from $2 million. Same-store sales, also known as comps for stores open at least a year, were up 7% from last year's second quarter at its namesake stores.
Still, us alpha-male consumers felt the "big and tall" moniker was a little dated. Enter the Casual Male XL concept. Gone are the stale black-and-yellow signs, replaced with updated navy-and-orange ones that have a more hip, urban feel. A fresh name and logo gives the store a more modern, athletic look and after a select city test last year, has been rolled out nationwide.
The retailer has taken a page from the woman's plus-size marketing world. In fact, retailers like Lane Bryant -- the 750-store subsidiary of Charming Shoppes
CMRG Gross Margins
2006 | 2005 | 2004 | |
---|---|---|---|
Q1 | 43.8 | 41.4 | 40.1 |
Q2 | * | 43.4 | 41.1 |
Q3 | * | 41.1 | 40.5 |
Q4 | * | 46.0 | 42.6 |
In the tight retail market, Casual Male has been performing admirably against the likes of men's retailers Men's Warehouse
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Fool contributor Rich Duprey owns shares of Casual Male but does not own any of the other stocks mentioned in this article. You can see his holdings here. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.