Limited Expanding Test Chains

Bigelow and Bendel each have a single store both in New York City and Easton Town Center in Columbus. C.O. Bigelow is an apothecary that has had a store in Greenwich Village since the 1800s. Bendel is an upscale women's apparel concept with a flagship unit in Midtown Manhattan. Limited opened test locations for both in Easton last year.

"We are evaluating [the Easton store's] results and evaluating real estate opportunities that might be consistent with a larger test for rolling out these stores in 2005," said Ann Hailey, Limited's executive vice president and CFO, during a conference call with investors yesterday. She did not say how many Bigelows and Bendels Limited plans to open.

The company will close a total of 191 Express and Limited stores this year. Limited currently operates 956 Expresses and 341 Limiteds. Both chain's year-over-year same-store sales fell during the fourth quarter, Express by 17% and Limited by 5%. In attempts to improve Express' performance, the company is converting stores from just women's apparel to dual gender offerings. Express currently operates 193 dual gender stores, and Limited plans to convert 52 more units this year.

Limited's Bath & Body Works and Victoria's Secret chains were a different story. Bath & Body posted a 12% same-stores sales gain, while Victoria's Secret saw its climb by 5%. Each chain will open about 15 stores this year. Bath & Body currently has just over 1,600 and Victoria's Secret operates just over 1,000.

For the year ended Jan. 29, Limited's same-store sales increased 4% from 2003 and operating income grew to about $1.1 billion from $963.1 million. Company officials predicted a chain-wide same-store sales increase of mid-to-single digits this year and 13% to 15% boost in earnings. Limited operates a total of 3,779 units across its brands.