Dress Barn is more traditional with a focus on career and casual fashion apparel for working women. It operates in 45 states with Dress Barn, Dress Barn Woman units carrying plus sizes, and combo units that offer both. Without deep discounting, Dress Barn and Maurices both keep average selling prices below those of many specialty store competitors.
Maurices will operate as a separate division of Dress Barn, retaining its name and management team. Members of the team are Lisa Rhodes, EVP and chief merchandising officer, and George Goldfarb, SVP and CFO. They will report directly to David R. Jaffe, Dress Barn's president and CEO. In a statement, Jaffe said, "The acquisition of Maurices provides us with an established and successful retail concept and an important vehicle to accelerate growth."
Dress Barn was founded by the current president's mother, Roslyn Jaffe, in 1962 and was soon joined by her husband, Elliot S. Jaffe, currently chairman. They took the company public on the Nasdaq in 1983. When the acquisition was announced in November, the Dress Barn chairman said, "The addition of the Maurices concept will also allow us to broaden our demographic reach and diversify our retail base."
The new owner plans to open approximately 30 to 40 additional Maurices locations each year over the next several years. Expansion plans for Dress Barn units were not announced.
At the close of trading on Jan. 4, shares of DBRN, Dress Barn stock, traded at $17.51 a share, down a sliver from the previous trading day. The 52-week high is $19.45 a share; the 52-week low, $14.50 a share.
© Touchpoint Markets, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to asset-and-logo-licensing@alm.com. For more inforrmation visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
