The Lane Bryant brand, which Bern says is the company's number one profit-maker, is in the forefront of this push, but not the only area of emphasis in a plan Bern set forth during a Citigroup 2006 retail conference yesterday. The locally based company plans to expand brick and mortar square footage by 5% in 2007 alone while also significantly expanding catalog and online marketing.

On the actual storefront front, Lane Bryant will grow by another 155 to 160 units this year, including the launch of Lane Bryant Outlets. Between 75 and 80 outlet stores are set to open this July and August in former Casual Corner lease locations the company acquired from Retail Brand Alliance.

Exclusive product is being developed for the outlet units. "We project expansion of Lane Bryant Outlet to 150 units over time," Bern said. "Our new outlet team has actually identified 220 outlet opportunities."

Meanwhile, the traditional Lane Bryant units will not only grow in number, but also in size. They will be joined side-by-side with a "sister," the Cacique brand of plus-size intimate apparel. "We're already number one in the plus-size intimate apparel business," Bern said, "so now we're pulling that business out to its own, individual Cacique door." She noted the irony of having acquired Lane Bryant from the Limited several years ago only to now follow with Lane Bryant's version of the Limited's Victoria's Secret. "When will there be free-standing Cacique stores, ala Victoria's Secret?," she asked and answered, "we're looking at it."

While the company has a catalog division under the Charming Shoppes Crosstown Traders division, none of the 10 current titles carries its Lane Bryant, Catherines or Fashion Bug identities. That's going to change, and so is ownership of an existing Lane Bryant catalog that is now owned by Paris-based Redcats USA and produces revenue of more than $300 million a year.

In October 2007, the trademark reverts back to Charming Shoppes. "I'm counting the days," said Bern. There will not be one Lane Bryant catalog, but, in addition to Lane Bryant Apparel, there will be Lane Bryant Home and Lane Bryant Footwear catalogs. Add to that Fashion Bug apparel, home and footwear and Catherines apparel and home catalogs. "It's as simple as taking the Crosstown names off the top and replacing them with our brand names," she said. "We will leverage our combined catalog base of 75 million unique names to drive sales and cross-selling opportunities."

The company's online sales have doubled each year for the past two years, according to Bern, and e-commerce, too, will be expanded as part of the multi-channel structure intended to drive sales at all channels. ShoeTrader.com is one part of the plan along with "an intimate apparel web mall. When we combine Lane Bryant, Catherines and Fashion Bug intimate apparel with all the national brands we carry, we can have the biggest, most comprehensive intimate apparel website in America," Bern said, "and all without increasing inventory, except to replenish stock."

By leveraging all brands and all channels, she said, "it's easy to see how we can grow quickly." She offered a three- to four-year financial plan that calls for sales of $2.9 billion from the brick-and-mortar channel, plus $100 million from outlet stores, $800 million from catalogs, and $200 million from e-commerce.

The company's nearly $2.8 billion in total sales for fiscal 2005 represented an 18% increase over the previous year, said Eric Specter, EVP and CFO. He projected, "an increase of between 11% and 13% for fiscal 2006, which began last week." The projection, he noted, would take total revenues above $3.1 billion.

Charming Shoppes Inc. now operates 2,236 stores in 48 states under the Lane Bryant, Fashion Bug, Fashion Bug Plus and Catherines Plus Sizes names. The Crosstown Traders catalogs are: Old Pueblo Traders, Bedford Fair, Willow Ridge, Lew Magram, Brownstone Studio, Regalia, Intimate Appeal, Monterey Bay Clothing Co., Coward Shoe and Figi's. CHRS stock traded at $13.46 a share at the close of the Nasdaq on Thurs. Feb. 9, up a little more than 5.7% for the day. The 52-week high is $14.07 a share, and the 52-week low is $7 a share.