This May, the company acquired five store leases from AprilCornell, which is operating under bankruptcy protection, and willopen the units under the Cache brand later this month. "They're inpremiere locations," Woolf said, "and they fell into our lap."Among the locations are Pasadena, CA, Scottsdale, AZ and WoodburyCommons in New York, a destination Woolf says Cache has wanted toenter.

In all, it will open 11 new stores in second quarter and is ontrack to open between 15 and 20 a year for the next few years. "Wedon't want to be overly aggressive," Woolf said, "but if anopportunity arises, we can go up to 25 a year." During the firstquarter, Cache opened two stores and closed six. It also remodeledsix units, which puts 64% of the Cache store base in the new storeformat.

While the Cache brand picked up momentum, performance at the30-some Lillie Rubin stores within the company continued toflounder. Of Lillie Rubin, Woolf said, "it's been challenging, andthe turnaround is a work in progress." The design team is workingon re-merchandising the assortment, and Woolf declined to commentfurther, but said improvements should be realized in the third andfourth quarters.