GlobeSt.com: Why did you decide to start with an e-commerce presence in Europe instead of stores?

Levin: We have 500 stores in the US. We have one Rochester clothing store in London, and it's been there for about eight years. It's been very successful; it's our second-highest volume store in the company. We are somewhat familiar with the landscape of retail and big and tall in the UK. As we did our homework and read some studies, we found there is a significant population of big and tall men across Europe and because of our strength on the e-commerce side, we thought it would be a natural for us to start gaining exposure by starting to sell on the internet first.

GlobeSt.com: Will your internet sales dictate where you put future stores on the continent?

Levin: We'll be able to tell from what cities the most traffic is coming in and the type of products that they're looking for. That will give us a roadmap to open up new stores.

GlobeSt.com: A lot of catalog companies have gone that route in the past. Is that something you've done before?

Levin: It's more based on demographics here. This is a relatively mature chain, so finding new locations is more challenging. Europe, to us, is wide open. We don't feel there is any retail player out there that has the scalability of what Casual Male and Rochester will have to offer. We're truly a one-stop shop. A big guy can come in, and we can fully wardrobe him.

GlobeSt.com: From country to country, do you see your selection changing significantly?

Levin: Even in the US products are different in different parts of the country. We're using our London store as a guideline to how we're going to initiate our assortments for Europe, and we will adjust accordingly. It could be size variations that are not consistent with the US, it could be brands that will perform better than others. We really have no idea until we get enough traffic to determine it. But we usually adjust from what we've planned to start with.

GlobeSt.com: Do you see Europe as having a challenging real estate environment compared to what you're used to over here?

Levin: When we get to the stage of opening brick and mortar in Europe, we'll probably have a European partner by country. I've been in retail a long time and seen the problems of American companies trying to launch businesses in Europe, and the best decision is to find the right collaborator with us to ensure our success. Every company has its nuances, whether it's rent negotiation or employee hiring. We're realistic enough to know we should get a seasoned player to join us. There have been some failures along the way of US retailers that have tried to do it on their own.

GlobeSt.com: How much more room is there for store growth in the US?

Levin: We are fairly saturated in stores. Our big growth continues to be driven by being a multi-channel retailer. Our Internet and catalog business continues to exceed the growth of our brick and mortar. We put a major strategic plan behind that from a marketing point of view. Our technology on the Internet has expanded dramatically over the years. We are very strong behind growing that piece of the business. There are advantages: We don't have rent, and we don't have labor. But we have to overcome the challenge of people being uncomfortable shopping on the Internet. It's a matter of communicating with them the best we can, having products that fit properly and delivering those messages. We are finding that the customers that we have that shop more than one channel spends more than twice as much than those that only shop one channel.

GlobeSt.com: Has your customer niche been at all recession proof so far?

Levin: The recession is going to impact everybody. What we can do in this type of environment is concentrate on our marketshare. Even in a difficult time, we are gaining in marketshare. But we have to be realistic because in a difficult time, customers cut back on their spending. It's going to impact everybody.

GlobeSt.com: How do you see the holiday season shaping up for the industry?

Levin: I listen to everybody and what they're forecasting, and it's very unpredictable now. We're in the best inventory position that we've ever been in. What we do see is that our average customer's transaction is the highest its ever been, meaning they're spending more than they have in the past. And we're converting more customer transactions, which offsets some of the loss in traffic that's out there. But there are going to be challenges out there for everybody.