(Ian Ritter is national online editor for GlobeSt.com/RETAIL.)

NEW YORK CITY-Though retailers are facing big challenges like rising gas prices and unfavorable weather, many of them are still expanding. Some of those companies presented their plans to investors yesterday at Goldman Sachs' Annual Global Retailing Conference at the Hilton New York.

In many ways Philadelphia-based Urban Outfitters Inc. is just getting started. In its three chains the company has the potential to go from just over 150 stores to more than 550 units, said Richard Hayne, the retailer's CEO. "We have plenty of room for additional new store growth."

Its namesake chain, which targets men and women between the ages of 18 and 30, currently operates 76 stores and 16 of them are in malls. The chain has the potential for 200-plus units with about half of them in malls, Hayne said

Anthropologie, a concept that markets to women between 30 and 45, currently operates 69 stores and has the potential for 250 locations. Free People, now a wholesale concept found in department and specialty stores across the country, operates four units and eventually could open more than 100, Hayne said.

South of the border, Wal-Mart is expanding all of its Mexican concepts, with executives planning to open 90 new stores this year. And there seems to be room for more. The company currently has a presence in 85 markets in that country and could expand to an additional 286 where it does not have stores, said Eduardo Solorzano, president and CEO of Wal-Mart de Mexico.

Unlike Wal-Mart in the US, the retailer is now targeting more rural markets after beginning its expansion in Mexico's more urban areas. Bodega Aurrera, a 15,000-sf store for smaller towns, will see the most growth out of its concepts, with 41 new units this year. As of early last month Wal-Mart operates about 175 of the Bodegas, as well as 287 restaurants under different chains, 92 Wal-Mart Supercenters, 63 Sam's Clubs and 50 Suburbia supermarkets.

And as GSR reported earlier this year, Kohl's is looking to increase its store count of about 670 stores to more than 1,200 units by 2010. "Every region has significant growth potential for backfill," said CEO Larry Montgomery, at the conference.

Instant Insights /

Economic Clouds Don't Stall Growth-Focused Retailers

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