A Special Report
Sponsored by Alliance Data
®
T H E NAT I O N ’ S H OT T E S T R E TA I L E R S 2 O O 8
H
T H E NAT I O N ’ S H OT T E S T R E TA I L E R S 2 O O 8 BY DAVID P. SCHULZ
ot retailers had to be exceptionally hot in the economic environment that settled over
most of the country in 2007. The hottest of the hot, the top 10, performed comparably to
chart-toppers from prior years; more challenged were those at the lower end of the chart.
Two years ago, the companies tied for the 75th spot on CVS joined forces with Caremark; Rite Aid completed its
the inaugural STORES Hot 100 Retailers chart showed a deal for the Brooks Pharmacy and Eckerd operations;
sales increase of 10.3 percent, while the same ranking last IHOP took over the larger Applebee’s chain; FTD saw a
year came with a 12.4 percent year-over-year gain. This revenue boost from the 2006 acquisition of U.K.-based In-
year, Neiman Marcus has sole possession of that spot with terflora. Amazon.com made some small transactions to en-
an 8.9 percent gain – still mighty respectable, since the Dal- hance existing merchandise categories while extending its
las-based company is one of only two department stores e-commerce expertise into new areas.
represented in the Hot 100. GameStop continues to reap the synergistic benefits of
The companies heading the 2008 STORES Hot 100 Re- some strategic acquisitions two years ago, and American
tailers list took the typical route to the top — acquisitions. Apparel and Chipotle Mexican Grill both have been grow-
H2 STORES / AUGUST 2008 WWW.STORES.ORG
W HAT MAKE S T HE M HOT?
The Hot 100 Retailers section is the definitive annual
ranking of the fastest-growing retail chains. In compiling
the list, STORES focused on the publicly-traded retail com-
panies with annual revenues of $100 million or more that
had the greatest increase in year-over-year revenues.
Several segments – particularly in the restaurant sector
– showed strong results despite a softening economy, and
40 retail companies have made the list all three years.
The editors of STORES believe that the Hot 100 offers a
distinct snapshot of the retailing landscape. It looks at the
2 companies and segments that set the pace in 2007 and,
perhaps, hints at those worthy of keeping tabs on in the
months to come.
84
48
90 33
H ow does one obtain “hot” status in today’s generally
lukewarm retail climate? Regardless of industry trends
or performance, the answer to this question rarely changes:
deliver relevant value to the customer.
In 2008, cautious consumers are defin-
ing value by dollars saved and gasoline
economized. But that’s only one dimension
of the value story. Consumers’ buying deci-
sions are made in the context of their busy
lives and personal priorities. More than
Ivan Szeftel ever before, retailers must make a cus-
tomer connection.
At Alliance Data we help retailers to understand what mat-
39 ters to their customers and then to deliver that value. Our co-
brand and private label credit card programs combined with
customer analytics give retailers the power to target the right
customer with the right message, at the right time.
The retailers on this year’s Hot 100 Retailers list have
cracked the value code. Congratulations. You have set the
pace in a challenging market by inspiring customers to
patronize your brand. That’s inspiration to us all.
Sincerely,
Ivan Szeftel
President, Retail Services
61
Alliance Data
18
5
13
ing store counts for a couple of years, with the resultant stop/c-store segment SIZZLING SEGMENT
enue increase of 21 Quick Stops/C-Stores 21.1%
sales increases up in this year’s figures. with an average rev-
TravelCenters of America 28.9
With CVS Caremark resting at the top of the chart and
Rite Aid commanding the runner-up position, it is not sur- percent. The four in- Susser Holdings 20.0
prising that drug chains constitute the hottest retail seg- clude No. 10 Travel- Casey’s General Stores 20.0
ment among companies on the Hot 100 chart, sporting a Centers of America, The Pantry 15.9
gaudy 42 percent year-over-year volume increase. Last the truck stop/travel
year was the first full year of operation for the combina- center and restaurant operator spun-off by a group of pri-
tion of drug retailer CVS and prescription benefits manag- vate equity investors early last year; Susser Holdings,
er Caremark Rx: Their joint revenues of more than $76 bil- which once operated under the Circle K banner before re-
lion were 74.2 percent above the $43.8 billion CVS gener- naming and launching the Stripes convenience store chain
ated in 2006. in 2006 and buying Town & Country Food Stores last
Rite Aid’s revenue boost came from its purchase of the year; Casey’s General Stores; and The Pantry, the latter two
Brooks Pharmacy units in New England and Eckerd drug having made a practice of buying small operators to either
stores along the East Coast that had once been part of in-fill or grow the perimeters of their operating territories.
Canadian Jean Coutu Group’s ill-fated experiment doing Holding down the third position on the Hot 100 list is
business south of the border. It is only this summer that IHOP, one of three restaurant companies in the top 10.
Rite Aid is wrapping up the conversion and integration of IHOP startled industry observers last summer when it an-
those stores into its coast-to-coast network. Walgreen is be- nounced its intentions to acquire Applebee’s, the nation’s
ginning to slow its three-stores-every-two- largest full-service dining chain by number of lo-
R
days expansion pace, abetted by some selec- cations. Though IHOP built its name and repu-
tive acquisitions of specialty pharmacies. tation running pancake restaurants, it has spent
Convenience store heat 30 the last five years transforming itself from an op-
erator to a franchisor of restaurants and is now
Top 100
anking behind drug stores as the sec- nearly 99 percent franchised.
ond-hottest group of retailers is a retailers Most of Applebee’s units were company
quartet of fuel, food and conven- in the owned and operated; it began changing that
ience merchandise merchants in the quick- Hot 100 shortly after consummating its takeover last No-
H4 STORES / AUGUST 2008 WWW.STORES.ORG
COMPANY HEADQUARTERS FY END REVENUES CHANGE EARNINGS CHANGE UNITS CHANGE
Rank
2007 2007 2007
2006 2006 2006
1 CVS Caremark Woonsocket, R.I. 12/29/2007 $76,329,500 74.2% $2,622,800 93.6% 6,301 1.5%
43,821,400 1,354,800 6,205
2 Rite Aid Camp Hill, Pa. 3/1/2008 24,326,846 39.8 (1,078,990) N.A. 5,029 51.0
17,399,383 26,826 3,330
3 IHOP Glendale, Calif. 12/31/2007 484,559 38.6 (480) N.A. 3,320 155.0
349,560 44,553 1,302
4 Amazon.com Seattle 12/31/2007 14,835,000 38.5 476,000 150.5 0 N.A.
10,711,000 190,000 0
5 American Apparel Los Angeles 12/31/2007 387,044 35.8 15,478 N.A. 182 23.8
284,966 (1,606) 147
6 GameStop Grapevine, Texas 2/2/2008 7,093,962 33.4 288,291 82.2 5,264 12.5
5,318,900 158,250 4,678
7 BJ’s Restaurants Huntington Beach, 1/1/2008 316,095 32.3 11,705 18.9 69 23.2
Calif. 238,928 9,845 56
8 Chipotle Mexican Grill Denver 12/31/2007 1,085,782 31.9 70,563 70.3 704 21.6
822,930 41,423 579
9 FTD Downers Grove, Ill. 6/30/2007 613,012 31.8 31,912 24.9 0 N.A.
465,133 25,543 0
10 TravelCenters of America Westlake, Ohio 12/31/2007 6,166,157 28.9 (123,356) N.A. 189 15.2
4,783,514 31,033 164
11 Panera Bread St. Louis 12/25/2007 1,066,691 28.7 57,456 -2.4 1,230 15.9
828,971 58,849 1,061
12 Zumiez Everett, Wash. 2/2/2008 381,416 27.9 25,326 21.4 285 21.3
298,177 20,856 235
13 Blue Nile Seattle 12/30/2007 319,264 26.9 17,459 33.6 0 N.A.
251,587 13,064 0
14 Dick’s Sporting Goods Pittsburgh 2/2/2008 3,888,422 24.9 155,036 37.7 340 15.6
3,114,162 112,611 294
15 Red Robin Gourmet Greenwood Village, 12/30/2007 763,472 23.4 30,651 4.4 384 10.7
Burgers Colo. 618,721 29,362 347
16 Urban Outfitters Philadelphia 1/31/2008 1,507,724 23.1 160,231 37.9 245 18.4
1,224,717 116,206 207
17 Texas Roadhouse Louisville, Ky. 12/25/2007 735,089 23.1 39,325 15.6 204 25.2
597,131 34,009 163
18 Lumber Liquidators Toano, Va. 12/31/2007 405,307 22.1 11,326 -12.2 116 27.5
332,060 12,898 91
19 PriceSmart San Diego 8/31/2007 888,801 21.0 12,926 9.0 23 0
734,673 11,858 23
20 Starbucks Seattle 9/30/2007 9,411,497 20.9 672,638 19.2 15,011 20.7
7,786,942 564,259 12,440
All dollar figures in thousands N.A. — Not applicable
WWW.STORES.ORG STORES / AUGUST 2008 H5
vember. In a deal typical of its plans for Apple-
bee’s, the company last month announced the sale 27 both of which are growing organically
rather than through acquisitions.
of 26 Applebee’s restaurants in Southern Califor- Restaurant BJ’s, which started serving deep dish pizza
nia to Apple American Group, a deal which gen- operators in in the Los Angeles suburb of Santa Ana 30
erated approximately $27 million in after-tax cash the Hot 100 years ago, has grown into a chain number-
proceeds. ing 73 locations.
To signal a new stage in its development SIZZLING SEGMENT After opening its first brewery in 1996,
— and reduce the potential for confusion Casual Dining 18.3% the company’s latest restaurant is styled
among the restaurant-going public — IHOP 38.6 as BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse, where
IHOP Corp. earlier this year changed its BJ’s Restaurants 32.3 pizza is still a major component of the
Red Robin Gourmet Burgers 23.4
Texas Roadhouse 23.1
name to DineEquity. The company boasts menu. Though more than half of BJ’s lo-
that, with more than 3,300 units, DineE- Darden Restaurants 19.0
cations are in California, the company
quity is the largest full-service restaurant Buffalo Wild Wings 18.5 has grown eastward, with units stretching
company in the world. California Pizza Kitchen 14.1 into Texas and Louisiana, as well as Indi-
Joining IHOP among restaurant opera- NPC International 12.9 ana, Ohio, Kentucky and Florida. In July,
tors in the top 10 are No. 7 BJ’s Restau- Ruby Tuesday 8.0 the company created the post of chief
rants and No. 8 Chipotle Mexican Grill, Famous Dave’s of America 7.9 marketing officer and filled it with Matt
H OT TE S T EARNINGS GROWTH
Sudden spikes in profits, as represented by the
hottest earnings growth group, frequently occur when
non-recurring items are included in year-end account-
ing reconciliations, and such is the case for Burger
King. Earnings jumped $121 million, or more than 448%,
in 2007, in part because the company did not have to
lay out $73 million in one-time fees as it had the year
before. Burger King has also been enjoying lower sales,
general and administrative (SGA) expenses, while com-
parable-store sales have been strong.
Burger King’s fiscal year runs through the end of
June, thus 2008 figures had not been released at press
time. It is a safe bet the company won’t post another
triple-digit earnings increase, but the gain should be solid tion. Though it is a publicly-held company, BK is con-
just the same. Through the nine months ended March 31, trolled by private equity funds, including TPG Capital (for-
BK’s income was running 24.1 percent ahead of the previ- merly known as Texas Pacific Group), Goldman Sachs
ous year, driven by strong system-wide comparable sales Funds and Bain Capital Partners.
(which have persisted for 17 consecutive quarters) and 1-800-Flowers, another retailer whose fiscal year ends
continued growth in the number of restaurants in opera- around July 1, increased its earnings by implementing
strong cost controls. In addition, there were not the
COMPANY 2007 2006 CHANGE expenses associated with relocating corporate headquar-
EARNINGS EARNINGS
ters as there were in 2006. Brookstone, the gadget retailer
Burger King $148,000 $27,000 448.1%
controlled by a consortium of private equity groups,
1-800-Flowers 17,118 3,187 437.1 boosted its profits in part by shedding its Gardeners Eden
Brookstone 6,420 1,632 293.4 operations and reaping some tax benefits along the way.
RadioShack 236,800 73,400 222.6 RadioShack’s earnings improvement came as a result of
REX Stores 33,867 11,351 198.4 the restructuring it undertook in 2006. This included clos-
Amazon.com 476,000 190,000 150.5 ing or relocating hundreds of stores, consolidating distri-
Ark Restaurants 13,013 5,220 149.3 bution centers, updating inventory and implementing a
OfficeMax 207,373 91,721 126.1 program to reduce overhead expenses. The effort had a
IACI Retail 87,486 42,172 107.5 double-barreled effect on 2007 earnings by depressing
Hastings Entertainment 10,245 5,019 104.1 income in 2006 and increasing profitability last year to
All dollar figures in thousands triple what it had been the prior year.
H6 STORES / AUGUST 2008 WWW.STORES.ORG
COMPANY HEADQUARTERS FY END REVENUES CHANGE EARNINGS CHANGE UNITS CHANGE
Rank
2007 2007 2007
2006 2006 2006
21 Ulta Romeoville, Ill. 2/2/2008 $912,141 20.8% $25,335 12.4% 249 27.0%
755,113 22,543 196
22 Susser Holdings Houston 12/30/2007 2,717,362 20.0 16,252 N.A. 505 55.4
2,265,159 (3,746) 325
23 Casey’s General Stores Ankeny, Iowa 4/30/2008 4,827,087 20.0 84,891 37.2 1,468 0.3
4,024,010 61,891 1,463
24 A&P Montvale, N.J. 2/23/2008 6,401,130 19.2 (160,680) N.A. 447 10.1
5,369,203 26,893 406
25 Darden Restaurants Orlando 5/25/2008 6,626,500 19.0 377,200 87.3 1,702 21.8
5,567,100 201,400 1,397
26 H.H. Gregg Indianapolis 3/31/2008 1,256,666 18.6 21,406 0.2 97 4.3
1,059,428 21,358 93
27 Buffalo Wild Wings Minneapolis 12/30/2007 329,652 18.5 19,654 20.8 493 14.9
278,183 16,273 429
28 Shoe Pavilion Sherman Oaks, Calif. 12/29/2007 152,571 18.2 (16,294) N.A. 115 6.5
129,057 1,865 108
29 Jamba Emeryville, Calif. 1/1/2008 317,209 17.9 (113,296) N.A. 707 18.8
269,045 (59,026) 595
30 SUPERVALU Eden Prairie, Minn. 2/23/2008 44,048,000 17.8 593,000 31.2 2,474 -0.2
37,406,000 452,000 2,478
31 Ruth’s Chris Steak House Heathrow, Fla. 12/30/2007 319,171 17.6 18,146 -23.7 118 18.0
271,479 23,790 100
32 Whole Foods Markets Austin, Texas 8/28/2007 6,591,773 17.6 182,740 -10.3 276 48.4
5,607,376 203,828 186
33 The Buckle Kearney, Neb. 2/2/2008 619,888 16.9 75,247 35.0 368 5.1
530,074 55,726 350
34 1-800-Flowers Carle Place, N.Y. 7/1/2007 912,598 16.7 17,118 437.1 97 -0.03
781,741 3,187 100
35 P.F. Chang’s Scottsdale, Ariz. 12/30/2007 1,092,722 16.6 32,063 -3.6 317 21.9
936,864 33,253 260
36 McCormick & Schmick’s Portland, Ore. 12/29/2007 358,647 16.3 8,814 -34.0 82 24.2
308,323 13,348 66
37 Gymboree San Francisco 2/2/2008 920,814 16.3 80,331 33.3 786 12.6
791,638 60,250 698
38 The Pantry Sanford, N.C. 9/27/2007 6,911,163 15.9 26,732 -70.0 1,644 10.1
5,961,702 89,198 1,493
39 bebe Stores Brisbane, Calif. 7/7/2007 670,912 15.9 77,278 4.7 273 11.9
579,073 73,807 244
40 J.Crew New York 2/2/2008 1,334,723 15.9 97,075 35.5 260 14.5
1,152,100 71,641 227
All dollar figures in thousands N.A. — Not applicable
WWW.STORES.ORG STORES / AUGUST 2008 H7
Hood, who had been national brand restaurant consultant
for Google.
Denver-based Chipotle, which split from McDonald’s
in 2006, experienced explosive growth before and after
the alliance, even though some quick-serve conventional
wisdom has been cast aside. For one thing, the company
operates its own restaurants and doesn’t
franchise; for another, it eschews TV ad-
vertising.
Chipotle is the brainchild of Steve Ells, 14.4%
Average
whose approach is to marry the pedestri-
an burrito with ingredients such as fresh- YOY revenue growth
ly chopped cilantro and beefsteak mari- of the Hot 100
nated for 12 hours, ideas worthy of some- retailers 41
H OT TE S T PROFIT RATIO GROWTH
Apparel retailers went through bricks-and-mortar
a long stretch of depressed locations next year.
sales, which no doubt helped A&F counters with
hone inventory management its namesake stores,
strategies so as to position them plus ’tween-and-teen
to reap the rewards when sales favorite Hollister, the
picked up last year. Half of the urban sophisticate
retailers with the hottest profit Ruehl, kids-oriented
ratios are apparel specialty store abercrombie and the
operators. newly-launched
Category leader REX Stores “underwear not lin-
69
runs small consumer electronics gerie” brand Gilly
and appliance stores in communities ranging in size from Hicks, with five stores in operation.
20,000 to 300,000 in population. REX Stores is not follow- The Buckle, where denim accounts for nearly half the
ing a pure retail strategy and helped its profit ratio by sell- volume, has extended its hot streak into 2008 with double-
ing off stores to invest in ethanol production and other digit same-store sales increases, while bebe Stores hews
alternative energy efforts. Last year, for example, the com- its own trail while selling contemporary women’s apparel
pany completed a $74.5 million cash deal involving the and accessories in more than 300 locations. Urban Outfit-
sale of 86 stores and lease-back provisions for 40 of the ters, which also operates Anthropologie and Free People
locations. units, this year acquired a chain of nurseries and re-
As a merchandise category, apparel sales increased launched it as a garden center concept called Terrain.
about 3 percent last year, according to research firm NPD
Group. The hottest-profit-ratio group of apparel retailers, COMPANY 2007 2007 RATIO
however, sported sales jumps ranging from 9.3 percent for REVENUES EARNINGS
American Eagle Outfitters to 23.1 percent for Urban Outfit- REX Stores $223,975 $33,867 15.12%
ters. American Eagle Outfitters 3,055,419 400,019 13.09
American Eagle and Abercrombie & Fitch have been Abercrombie & Fitch 3,749,847 475,697 12.69
going head-to-head for years and both prospered last year The Buckle 619,888 75,247 12.14
while expanding multiple formats. AEO boosted its 20-unit bebe Stores 670,912 77,278 11.52
Martin + Osa with an e-commerce site. aerie, the intimate Urban Outfitters 1,507,724 160,231 10.63
apparel brand that began opening freestanding stores in McDonald’s 22,786,600 2,395,100 10.51
2006, is expected to have 100 units in operation by the end Ark Restaurants 124,207 13,013 10.48
of this year. Also in the works is the launch of a brand Tiffany 2,938,771 303,772 10.34
extension aimed at 2- to10-year-olds called 77kids by AutoZone 6,169,804 595,672 9.65
American Eagle, starting with a website this year and
All dollar figures in thousands
H8 STORES / AUGUST 2008 WWW.STORES.ORG
COMPANY HEADQUARTERS FY END REVENUES CHANGE EARNINGS CHANGE UNITS CHANGE
Rank
2007 2007 2007
2006 2006 2006
41 Cheesecake Factory Calabasas Hills, Calif. 1/1/2008 $1,511,577 14.9% $73,964 -9.0% 152 16.0%
1,315,325 81,282 131
42 Tiffany New York 1/31/2008 2,938,771 14.8 303,772 19.6 184 10.2
2,560,734 253,927 167
43 Tween Brands New Albany, Ohio 2/2/2008 1,013,971 14.7 52,574 -18.9 842 16.6
883,683 64,821 722
44 Citi Trends Savannah, Ga. 2/2/2008 437,515 14.6 14,214 50.4 319 15.2
381,918 21,351 277
45 California Pizza Kitchen Los Angeles 12/30/2007 632,884 14.1 14,784 -29.6 237 15.1
554,601 21,000 205
46 Tractor Supply Brentwood, Tenn. 12/29/2007 2,703,212 14.1 96,241 5.8 764 13.0
2,369,612 91,008 676
47 Cabela’s Sidney, Neb. 12/29/2007 2,349,599 13.9 87,879 2.4 27 50.0
2,063,524 85,785 18
48 Recreational Seattle 12/31/2007 1,342,024 13.6 41,427 2.9 96 7.9
Equipment Inc. (REI) 1,181,531 40,273 89
49 Walgreen Deerfield, Ill. 8/31/2007 53,762,000 13.4 2,041,300 16.6 5,997 9.8
47,409,000 1,750,600 5,461
50 Finlay Enterprises New York 2/2/2008 835,892 13.1 (10,049) N.A. 793 4.6
739,021 4,408 758
51 Abercrombie & Fitch New Albany, Ohio 2/2/2008 3,749,847 13.0 475,697 12.7 1,035 9.6
3,318,158 422,186 944
52 NPC International * Overland Park, Kan. 12/25/2007 697,845 12.9 7,770 N.A. 888 8.8
618,333 (2,740) 816
53 Aéropostale New York 2/2/2008 1,590,883 12.6 129,197 27.0 828 11.6
1,413,208 106,647 742
54 Ark Restaurants New York 9/29/2007 124,207 12.4 13,013 149.3 46 -6.1
110,519 5,220 49
55 Spartan Stores Grand Rapids, Mich. 3/29/2008 2,476,822 12.3 34,306 36.4 99 13.8
2,206,270 25,160 87
56 Men’s Wearhouse Houston 2/2/2008 2,112,558 12.2 147,041 -1.0 1,157 53.9
1,882,064 148,575 752
57 Saks New York 2/2/2008 3,282,640 11.7 47,473 -11.7 197 9.4
2,940,003 53,742 180
58 Rubio’s Restaurants Carlsbad, Calif. 12/30/2007 169,731 11.5 1,189 N.A. 179 7.8
152,268 (3,461) 166
59 Best Buy Minneapolis 3/1/2008 40,023,000 11.4 1,407,000 2.2 1,314 12.3
35,934,000 1,377,000 1,170
60 Sonic Oklahoma City 8/31/2007 770,469 11.1 64,192 -18.4 3,300 3.5
693,262 78,705 3,188
All dollar figures in thousands N.A. — Not applicable * Pizza Hut franchisee
WWW.STORES.ORG STORES / AUGUST 2008 H9
H OTTE S T UNIT GROWTH
IHOP and Rite Aid rank among the top 10 companies
with the greatest year-to-year changes in store count.
They also rank among the top 10 on the Hot 100 Retailers
chart, which isn’t too surprising, since adding a lot of
stores and increasing sales often go hand-in-hand. Usual-
ly the jump is accomplished by acquiring an industry rival,
which is what IHOP and Rite Aid did.
IHOP’s big move came last summer when it spent
approximately $2.1 billion to buy Applebee’s International.
IHOP was an experienced franchisor of pancake restau- 3
rants (IHOP was once known as International House of
Pancakes) while, with some 3,250 locations, Applebee’s sued by private equity funds when it put itself up for sale
was the nation’s largest chain of sit-down restaurants. and was amenable to IHOP’s advances.
Applebee’s had lost some of its glow and was being pur- Rite Aid, of course, completed its deal for the Brooks
Pharmacy and Eckerd drug stores that were once owned
COMPANY 2007 2006 CHANGE by Canada-based Jean Coutu Group.
UNITS UNITS
Coldwater Creek built on its catalog and Internet base
IHOP 3,320 1,302 155.0%
by moving into high gear with its bricks-and-mortar expan-
Susser Holdings 505 325 55.4
sion. It opened a net of 67 stores, including 12 in the final
Men’s Wearhouse 1,157 752 53.9 quarter, driving a lot of volume, but paid the price in terms
Rite Aid 5,029 3,330 51.0 of margin and earnings. The company is making a number
Cabela’s 27 18 50.0 of changes in order to improve its performance. “We are
Whole Foods Markets 276 186 48.4 moderating our retail expansion” this year, says president
Coldwater Creek 306 239 28.0 and CEO Daniel Griesmer. New store openings have been
Lumber Liquidators 116 91 27.5 scaled back to about 50. Among the new locations was the
Ulta 249 196 27.0 first Coldwater Creek in Manhattan after the company
Texas Roadhouse 204 163 25.2 entered the market with 13 stores in Long Island, Staten
Island and nearby New Jersey and Connecticut suburbs.
SIZZLING SEGMENT
Drug Stores 42.0%
from local farms.
CVS Caremark 74.2
Chipotle has nearly 750 restaurants
Rite Aid 39.8
across the country, is opening its first Cana-
Walgreen 13.4 dian units this year and is casting an eye to-
drugstore.com 7.2 ward Europe, where Frankfurt, London
T
and Paris have been mentioned as possible
expansion sites.
45.1% Supermarket segment
he supermarket segment has five represen-
Average three-year tatives in the Hot 100, but none are in the
revenue growth of top quartile. As a group, they posted a
the 40 retailers that
have appeared in
17.2 percent year-to-year revenue rise, led by
89 Hot 100 since
A&P’s 19.2 percent boost following its acquisi-
inception in 2006 tion of Pathmark Stores. The differential was en-
one trained at the Culinary Institute of hanced by A&P’s downsizing in the several quar-
America. Ells was one of the early proponents of pushing ters preceding the combination of the two New Jersey-
suppliers to use natural and humane methods of raising based chains.
farm animals. More recently, the company has begun a Rising food prices have helped all grocers’ top lines, and
program of buying at least 25 percent of its produce — ro- SUPERVALU benefited from this, as well as from the in-
maine lettuce, green bell peppers, jalapenos, red onions — clusion of its distribution business in total revenues for the
H10 STORES / AUGUST 2008 WWW.STORES.ORG
COMPANY HEADQUARTERS FY END REVENUES CHANGE EARNINGS CHANGE UNITS CHANGE
Rank
2007 2007 2007
2006 2006 2006
61 Jos. A. Bank Hampstead, Md. 2/2/2008 $604,010 10.5% $50,168 16.1% 426 11.5%
546,385 43,222 382
62 O’Reilly Automotive Springfield, Mo. 12/31/2007 2,522,319 10.5 193,988 8.9 1,830 11.6
2,283,222 178,085 1,640
63 PetSmart Phoenix 2/2/2008 4,672,656 10.4 258,684 39.8 1,008 11.0
4,233,857 185,069 908
64 Brookstone Merrimack, N.H. 12/29/2007 562,835 9.9 6,420 293.4 319 2.4
511,914 1,632 311
65 Morton’s Chicago 12/30/2007 353,825 9.9 13,002 N.A. 78 1.3
321,982 (13,600) 77
66 Dress Barn Suffern, N.Y. 7/28/2007 1,426,607 9.7 101,182 28.2 1,428 6.0
1,300,277 78,954 1,347
67 Retail Ventures Columbus, Ohio 2/2/2008 1,871,904 9.7 51,442 N.A. 295 16.1
1,706,533 (150,913) 254
68 AFC Enterprises* Atlanta 12/30/2007 167,300 9.3 23,100 3.1 1,903 1.3
153,000 22,400 1,878
69 American Eagle Outfitters Pittsburgh 2/2/2008 3,055,419 9.3 400,019 3.3 942 4.0
2,794,409 387,359 906
70 Coldwater Creek Sandpoint, Idaho 2/2/2008 1,151,472 9.2 (2,488) N.A. 306 28.0
1,054,611 55,372 239
71 Ingles Markets Asheville, N.C. 9/29/2007 2,851,593 9.2 58,638 37.7 197 0.0
2,612,233 42,582 197
72 Burger King Miami 6/30/2007 2,234,000 9.1 148,000 448.1 11,283 1.4
2,048,000 27,000 11,129
73 McDonald’s Oak Brook, Ill. 12/31/2007 22,786,600 9.1 2,395,100 -32.4 31,377 1.1
20,895,200 3,544,200 31,046
74 Yum Brands Louisville, Ky. 12/29/2007 10,416,000 8.9 909,000 10.3 35,233 1.8
9,561,000 824,000 34,595
75 Neiman Marcus Group Dallas 7/28/2007 4,390,076 8.9 111,932 97.7 62 5.1
4,030,110 56,609 59
76 Benihana Miami 3/30/2008 296,946 8.9 12,793 -11.7 107 10.3
272,649 14,495 97
77 Cosi Deerfield, Ill. 12/31/2007 134,556 8.8 (20,784) N.A. 141 14.6
123,699 (12,328) 123
78 Caribou Coffee Minneapolis 12/30/2007 256,834 8.7 (30,663) N.A. 484 4.3
236,229 (9,059) 464
79 Charlotte Russe San Diego 9/29/2007 740,939 8.7 36,304 44.4 432 11.6
681,504 25,138 387
80 Walmart Bentonville, Ark. 1/31/2008 374,526,000 8.6 12,731,000 12.8 7,262 7.1
344,992,000 11,284,000 6,779
All dollar figures in thousands N.A. — Not applicable * Parent company of Popeyes Chicken & Biscuits
WWW.STORES.ORG STORES / AUGUST 2008 H11
RED TO B L AC K
When companies move from unprofitability one year to
profitability the next, there is usually jubilation, if only
among the shareholders. The celebratory ambience is
missing at American Apparel, a company whose financial
statements are rarely written in indelible ink. Five years
ago, it was a clothes maker with just three stores; now
58
American Apparel is pushing the 200-store mark with loca-
tions in 15 countries. entirely, especially since the 2005 death of CFO Mark
As a seller of youth-oriented apparel, the company has Schlein. Interim CFOs, bookkeeping by committee and out-
an outlaw image and is best known for advertising that has siders imposed by institutional investors have all had their
been described as, among other things, “almost porn” and turns. Mistakes were made and restatements of earnings
“soft core.” Sales, even comparable-store sales, regularly followed. In a filing with the SEC when it was going public
register jumps of 25 to 30 percent. last November, the company admitted it had “identified
The financial side of the business is something else certain material weaknesses in American Apparel’s internal
control over financial reporting that will need to be reme-
COMPANY 2007 2006 died.” One of these was “inadequate expertise in the appli-
EARNINGS LOSS cation of U.S. generally accepted accounting principles.”
American Apparel $15,478 ($1,606) Becoming a public company was not accomplished via a
A.C. Moore Arts & Crafts 3,783 (406) routine initial public offering of common stock, but through
ValueVision 22,161 (2,685) a transaction known as a “blank check” IPO in which a
Jo-Ann Stores 15,400 (1,900) special purpose acquisition company buys a private firm
Susser Holdings 16,252 (3,746) and immediately goes public. The company’s shares began
NPC International 7,770 (2,740) trading on the American Stock Exchange in December; the
Einstein Noah Bagels 12,586 (6,868) price rose as high as $16.80 and bottomed out at $5.52,
Wet Seal 23,232 (12,838) though it has bounced back a bit since then.
Triarc 16,081 (10,932) Other companies on the Red to Black list have had more
Morton’s 13,002 (13,600) conventional transitions from red ink to black. NPC Inter-
Winn-Dixie 300,594 (361,301) national, an operator of Pizza Hut franchises, also went
public last year, while Einstein Noah has morphed from the
Landry’s Seafood 18,112 (21,770)
New World Restaurant Group a couple of years ago into
Rubio’s Restaurants 1,189 (3,461)
the operator and franchisor of such quick-casual bagel
Retail Ventures 51,442 (150,913)
restaurants as Einstein Bros., Noah’s New York and
All dollar figures in thousands
Manhattan Bagels.
first time this year. Spar- SIZZLING SEGMENT
drug store chain and Supermarkets 17.2%
tan Stores has shed its
A&P 19.2
SUPERVALU 17.8
also distributes to some
independent grocers. Whole Foods Markets 17.6
Rounding out the hot Spartan Stores 12.3
grocery segment are In- Ingles Markets 9.2
gles, a low-profile but
well-respected opera-
tion based in western North Carolina, and Whole Foods
Markets, which is still opening stores.
Apparel stores are well represented among the Hot 100
Retailers, with the ’tweens and teens category enjoying an
aggregate 13.3 percent sales lift. Included in this group are
chains that have grown through rapid store openings
100
rather than acquisitions, operations as disparate as Zu-
miez, Urban Outfitters, Aéropostale, The Buckle, and one-
H12 STORES / AUGUST 2008 WWW.STORES.ORG
COMPANY HEADQUARTERS FY END REVENUES CHANGE EARNINGS CHANGE UNITS CHANGE
Rank
2007 2007 2007
2006 2006 2006
81 99 Cents Only Stores City of Commerce, 3/29/2008 $1,199,374 8.6% $2,893 -70.4% 269 6.3%
Calif. 1,104,696 9,762 253
82 Collective Brands Topeka, Kan. 2/2/2008 3,035,400 8.5 42,700 -65.0 4,894 7.0
2,796,700 122,000 4,572
83 Conn’s Beaumont, Texas 1/31/2008 824,128 8.3 39,686 -1.6 69 11.3
760,657 40,311 62
84 Wet Seal Foothill Ranch, Calif. 2/2/2008 611,163 8.3 23,232 N.A. 494 14.4
564,324 (12,838) 432
85 Ruby Tuesday Maryville, Tenn. 6/5/2007 1,410,227 8.0 91,668 -9.2 933 6.0
1,306,240 100,977 880
86 Famous Dave’s of America Minnetonka, Minn. 12/30/2007 125,873 7.9 6,070 22.5 167 15.2
116,621 4,954 145
87 El Pollo Loco Costa Mesa, Calif. 12/26/2007 279,025 7.4 (4,034) N.A. 389 8.4
259,888 637 359
88 Ross Stores Pleasanton, Calif. 2/2/2008 5,975,212 7.3 261,051 8.0 890 11.7
5,570,210 241,634 797
89 drugstore.com Bellevue, Wash. 12/30/2007 445,723 7.2 (11,511) N.A. 0 N.A.
415,777 (13,026) 0
90 The Children’s Place Secaucus, N.J. 2/2/2008 2,162,559 7.2 (59,567) N.A. 1,239 3.9
2,017,713 87,390 1,194
91 TJX Framingham, Mass. 1/26/2008 18,647,126 7.1 771,750 -0.01 2,563 3.9
17,404,637 776,756 2,466
92 Costco Issaquah, Wash. 9/2/2007 63,087,601 7.0 1,082,772 -1.9 488 6.6
58,963,180 1,103,215 458
93 Birks & Mayors Montreal 3/29/2008 314,745 7.0 10,433 -20.5 70 4.5
294,282 13,123 67
94 Dollar Tree Stores Chesapeake, Va. 2/2/2008 4,242,600 6.9 201,300 4.8 3,411 6.0
3,969,400 192,000 3,219
95 Family Dollar Matthews, N.C. 9/1/2007 6,834,305 6.9 242,854 24.5 6,430 4.2
6,394,772 195,111 6,173
96 Duckwall-ALCO Abilene, Kan. 2/3/2008 499,032 6.8 (224) N.A. 262 2.3
467,321 5,704 256
97 Big Dog Holdings Santa Barbara, Calif. 12/31/2007 233,268 6.7 (1,375) N.A. 301 2.4
218,604 971 294
98 Staples Framingham, Mass. 2/2/2008 19,372,682 6.7 995,670 2.3 2,038 8.2
18,160,789 973,677 1,884
99 Bed Bath & Beyond Union, N.J. 3/1/2008 7,048,942 6.5 562,808 -5.3 971 9.3
6,617,429 594,244 888
100 Target Minneapolis 2/3/2008 63,367,000 6.5 2,849,000 2.2 1,591 7.0
59,490,000 2,787,000 1,488
All dollar figures in thousands N.A. — Not applicable
WWW.STORES.ORG STORES / AUGUST 2008 H13
NOT SO HOT E A R N I NG S G ROWTH
Casual Male has the dubious distinction of topping both
the Not-So-Hot Earnings Growth and the Not-So-Hot Profit
Ratio charts. Part of the reason is that the big-and-tall
menswear retailer has been transforming itself over the
past couple of years, including opening the first Rochester
stores since acquiring the brand in 2004 and also drop-
ping “big and tall” from its name. The company added
“XL” to the logo of its flagship brand, denoting “extra
large.” This comes as plus-size menswear continues to
grow from its current level of about $6 billion a year.
Unfortunately for Casual Male, this growth in large-size
clothing has also attracted the attention of mainstream
retailers ranging from JCPenney to Macy’s to Walmart, all about the stores. “We are catering to a small percentage of
of which have added some larger menswear to the ends of the adult male population and it is very hard to discrimi-
their clothing racks. Being a single source for a broad nate who is who by size,” says Casual Male CEO David
selection of clothing and accessories provides a well- Levin. “It’s always been an expensive proposition for us to
defined niche for Casual Male, but there is also the chal- prospect new customers.”
lenge of finding those customers and letting them know Casual Male is responding to the challenge by making
efforts to attract men at the smaller end of the tape meas-
COMPANY 2007 2006 CHANGE
ure — those with 42-inch to 46-inch waists — who current-
EARNINGS EARNINGS ly account for only about 25 percent of total sales. “It’s a
Casual Male $414 $42,632 -99.0% stigma issue,” says Levin, in explaining why men in that
Syms 807 9,548 -91.5 size range might prefer shopping at department stores or
Haverty Furniture 1,758 16,000 -89.0 mass merchants rather than at Casual Male.
Genesco 7,750 67,646 -88.5 Contributing to the precipitous decline in earnings last
Foot Locker 53,000 251,000 -78.9 year were losses from discontinued operations (primarily
Dillard’s 53,800 245,600 -78.1 stores that were closed) and increased promotional activi-
The Bon-Ton Stores 11,562 46,883 -75.3 ty in the final quarter of the year. The company’s earnings
per share dropped to a penny, in contrast to $1.21 per
99 Cents Only Stores 2,893 9,762 -70.4
share the year before. Even while forecasting same-store
The Pantry 26,732 89,198 -70.0
sales to be flat or perhaps up as much as 2 percent this
Collective Brands 42,700 122,000 -65.0
year, Casual Male says it is comfortable with analysts’
All dollar figures in thousands
forecasts of earnings in the area of 28 cents a share.
time Limited divisions SIZZLING SEGMENT
Tween Brands (the erst- Tweens & Teens 13.3%
while Limited Too) and Zumiez 27.9
Abercrombie & Fitch. Urban Outfitters 23.1
As a group, specialty The Buckle 16.9
apparel retailers didn’t Tween Brands 14.7
Abercrombie & Fitch 13.0
Aéropostale 12.6
fare as well as those fo-
cused on the younger American Eagle Outfitters 9.3
set. With sales gains of Charlotte Russe 8.7
35.8 percent, only No. Wet Seal 8.3
5 American Apparel
earned a single-digit ranking.
American Apparel has been opening stores with a
vengeance, fueling its torrid sales gains, but the expansion
might be coming at the expense of fiscal prudence, with se-
53
curities analysts and industry watchers raising red flags
over equilibrium on the company’s balance sheet.
H14 STORES / AUGUST 2008 WWW.STORES.ORG
SIZZLING SEGMENT movies and a lot of other goods, as well as an
Specialty Apparel 12.0% entity that functions like an electronic shop-
American Apparel 35.8 ping mall — directing shoppers to branded
Gymboree 16.3 stores carrying other retailers’ names — and
bebe Stores 15.9 as a facilitator and consultant for retailers
J.Crew 15.9 too small or too inexperienced to establish
Men’s Wearhouse 12.2 70
Jos. A. Bank 10.5
e-commerce businesses on their own. All the
Coldwater Creek 9.2
while, Amazon has remained
The Children’s Place 7.2
innovative and creative while
Big Dog Holdings 6.7 adding new merchandise cat-
2 egories (like groceries) and
introducing the Kindle, an
Amazon.com hasn’t carved out a niche so much as it has Department electronic device enabling the
defined what online retailing is and how it should be con- store operators downloading and reading of
ducted. The result is a formidable seller of books, music, in the Hot 100 books in digital formats.
NOT SO HOT U N I T G ROWTH
Landry’s, REX Stores and Macy’s have been here
before. All were included on this list last year and have
been moving aggressively to lop off unproductive and
underperforming locations so the core operation can
thrive. Sometimes this is an ongoing process.
When it was still Federated Department Stores,
Macy’s sold the Lord & Taylor chain and redundant
department stores acquired in the purchase of May
Department Stores. It took a little longer to sell the spe-
cialty stores in May’s bridal division, and the divestiture
of the After Hours formalwear business lingered until
2007. On the other hand, REX Stores, which is on the list
for the third straight year, isn’t interested in expanding
its electronics retail business: it is closing units so it
can continue investing in alternative energy efforts,
including ethanol production.
Landry’s Restaurants has a tale that is a bit more con-
voluted. The Houston-based operator of Chart House,
Rainforest Café, Salt Grass Steak House and Landry’s
Seafood House restaurants, as well as the Golden
Nugget Casinos and The Boardwalk Inn entertainment
complex in Kemah, Texas, saw many of its Gulf Coast
locations devastated by Hurricane Katrina in late 2005. COMPANY 2007 2006 CHANGE
UNITS UNITS
Several, the company determined, weren’t worth
reopening. Landry’s Seafood 179 375 -52.3%
Two years ago, Landry’s also sold 120 Joe’s Crab REX Stores 115 193 -40.4
Shacks to J.H. Whitney Capital Partners and closed 16 Macy’s 853 1,360 -37.3
others that it couldn’t sell. During its most recently com- Hancock Fabrics 270 404 -33.2
pleted fiscal year, Landry’s closed more locations as it Limited Brands 2,926 3,798 -23.0
reorganized its diverse businesses. Tilman J. Fertitta, Cracker Barrel 564 712 -20.8
co-founder, chairman, president and CEO of Landry’s, TransWorld Entertainment 800 992 -19.4
wants to buy the 61 percent of the company he doesn’t Nordstrom 157 191 -17.8
already own. Pacific Sunwear 944 1,119 -15.6
Syms 33 36 -8.3
WWW.STORES.ORG STORES / AUGUST 2008 H15
G
GameStop spreads internationally
ameStop has no direct competition in this
country, though retailers from Best Buy and
Blockbuster to Target and Walmart all sell
electronic games. GameStop continues to open
stores here, aiming for about 300 this year, but its
greatest opportunities are overseas, where it buys
entire chains to enter a new country or market. Ear-
lier this year, GameStop acquired the 49-unit Free
Record Shop in Norway to go with the 100 units it
already operated in Scandinavia. More recently,
GameStop agreed to purchase The Gamesman,
New Zealand’s largest in-
dependent game retailer,
which will give it 308 lo-
cations in New Zealand
and Australia.
4
No. 9 FTD sells flowers Pure-play
e-tailers in the
63
and gifts directly to con-
sumers through ftd.com Hot 100
B L AC K TO RED
It would be hard to find anyone who has faced as much
adversity and worked as hard at getting a retail business
back on track as Rite Aid president and CEO Mary Sam-
mons. And this year, no one is leading a company that has
sustained such a large swing from profit ($26.8 million) to
loss ($1.1 billion) in successive years. Sammons took the
reins of Rite Aid amid accounting scandals that required
the reconfiguration of financial statements, a period that
also saw rivals CVS and Walgreen beef up store counts.
When the opportunity presented itself in the form of the
Brooks Pharmacy and Eckerd chains being placed on the
selling block by Jean Coutu Group, Rite Aid did some bulk-
ing up itself.
Just as the digestion and integration of the acquired
units moved into high gear, however, consumer spending now,” she says, “finishing the remaining minor remodels of
went into a swoon, and Rite Aid was swamped with red ink. the acquired stores.” And with most of the heavy lifting
This year is a different story. behind them, the combined businesses are expected to
“We increased both pharmacy and front-end sales in the “contribute significantly to strong results in the second half
core Rite Aid stores,” Sam- of the fiscal year.”
COMPANY 2007 2006
mons says. “We also passed a LOSS EARNINGS Rite Aid’s story is replicated
major milestone in the integra- Rite Aid ($1,078,990) $26,826 at several other members of the
tion of the former Brooks Eck- Black to Red grouping, includ-
Talbots (188,841) 31,576
erd stores by completing the ing A&P, which shed many
A&P (160,680) 26,893
store systems conversion. stores before acquiring rival
TransWorld Entertainment (99,400) 11,700
Today, pharmacy dispensing, Pathmark Stores in an effort to
Charming Shoppes (86,567) 108,923
cash registers and all business become a strong regional chain
Blockbuster (85,100) 39,200
applications are now consistent in the Northeast. Ditto for
Finish Line (60,385) 32,364
in all of our stores and we can Talbots, which found itself
The Children’s Place (59,567) 87,390
manage our business seam- overextending in apparel for-
Claire’s Stores (43,131) 188,762
lessly nationwide. mats aimed at niche markets
“We’re in the home stretch General Nutrition Centers (32,300) 37,400 and has begun to reinvent itself.
All dollar figures in thousands
H16 STORES / AUGUST 2008 WWW.STORES.ORG
F
S U STAIN ED SIZZLE
orty companies have appeared in the Hot 100 each year since STORES
began compiling the list in 2006. Those retailers have enjoyed average
three-year revenue growth of 45.1 percent over that period.
COMPANY REVENUE GROWTH COMPANY REVENUE GROWTH
2004-2007 2004-2007
GameStop 285% Tractor Supply 55.5
CVS Caremark 149.5 Gymboree 54.9
Amazon.com 114.3 1-800-Flowers 51.1
The Pantry 97.9 O’Reilly Automotive 46.5
Coldwater Creek 95.1 Best Buy 45.5
Dress Barn 89 Big Dog Holdings 44.6
8
Blue Nile 88.6 Walgreen 43.3
The Children’s Place 86.8 Ross Stores 40.9
Abercrombie & Fitch 85.5 Wet Seal 40.3
Dick’s Sporting Goods 84.3 PetSmart 38.9
Urban Outfitters 82.1 Charlotte Russe 37.4
PHOTO: COURTESY OF BURGER KING CORP.
bebe Stores 80.2 Bed Bath & Beyond 36.9
Shoe Pavilion 77.9 Dollar Tree Stores 35.7
Casey’s General Stores 72.1 Target 35.3
Whole Foods Markets 70.6 Staples 34.1
J.Crew 66 Costco 33.9
Aéropostale 65 Tiffany 33.3
PriceSmart 63.3 Walmart 32.8
American Eagle Outfitters 62.4 Family Dollar 29.4
Jos. A. Bank 62.2
Cabela’s 59.9 Average 45.1%
72
SIZZLING SEGMENT
and is also a web and
Sandwich/Beverage 12.0% telephone marketer of
Chipotle Mexican Grill 31.9
Panera Bread 28.7
merchandise through
Starbucks 20.9
its network of approx-
Jamba 17.9
imately 20,000 North
Rubio’s Restaurants 11.4 American flower shops.
Sonic 11.1 Merchandise includes
AFC Enterprises 9.3 flowers, plants, pots
Burger King 9.1 and vases as well as
McDonald’s 9.1
Yum Brands 8.9
books, plush toys, jew-
Cosi 8.8
elry and collectibles.
Caribou Coffee 8.7
This is likely FTD’s
El Pollo Loco 7.4 final appearance on
the Hot 100 chart,
since it has agreed to be acquired by United Online, a
provider of consumer Internet and media services based in
Woodland Hills, Calif.
A number of retailers have displayed the ability to main-
tain their heated growth pace
over the three years of the Hot 47
100’s existence. In spite of the
sluggish consumer spending en-
14 seem counterintuitive is that not all of the three-peat Hot
vironment, GameStop, CVS Hot 100 100 retailers are active in the mergers and acquisitions
companies
that reported
Caremark and Amazon.com arena or are young go-go companies. Among the 40 retail-
net losses in
sport triple-digit growth over the ers showing sustained sizzle are Walmart, Costco, Tiffany
extended period. What might FY 2007 and Abercrombie & Fitch.
WWW.STORES.ORG STORES / AUGUST 2008 H17
NOT SO HOT P RO F I T RATIO G ROWTH
Poor earnings will show up in both a decline in year-
over-year performance comparisons and as a low prof-
it-to-sales ratio. Sure enough, eight of the 10 retailers in
this group also show up on the Not-So Hot-Earnings
chart: Casual Male, Haverty Furniture, 99 Cents Only
Stores, Syms, The Bon-Ton Stores, The Pantry,
Genesco and Dillard’s. The exceptions are Fred’s, an
operator of small format discount stores and
O’Charley’s, operator of O’Charley’s, Ninety Nine and
Stoney River Legendary Steaks restaurants.
Fred’s is well aware of its profitability problems and is second half of last year.
on the case, having embarked on an effort to improve prof- These woes have continued into 2008, with sales drop-
itability and margins, following an internal study of the pre- ping nearly 5 percent this year and margins being
vious 10 quarters. The initiative includes closing 75 under- squeezed across all three formats. The capital spending
performing locations, repositioning and reducing has been trimmed for this year, and the company is contin-
corporate overhead by 10 percent, generating $11 million uing its rebranding projects — “Project RevO’lution” for
in annualized cash savings in the second half of this year the O’Charley’s brand and “Dressed to the Nines” for the
and initiating multiple merchandising programs to enhance Ninety Nine chain.
margin and address the changing shift in sales mix.
This latter includes placing more emphasis on pharmacy COMPANY REVENUES EARNINGS RATIO
sales. By the end of 2010, says CEO Michael J. Hayes, “we 2007 2007
expect to achieve a cumulative increase of approximately Casual Male $464,128 $414 0.09%
$100 million in free cash flow generated directly as a result Haverty Furniture 784,613 1,758 0.22
of these new strategies … which, compared with the $27 99 Cents Only Stores 1,199,374 2,893 0.24
million cost of the plan, reflects substantial return for the Syms 267,149 807 0.30
company and its stockholders.” The Bon-Ton Stores 3,467,659 11,562 0.33
O’Charley’s profits have suffered during what the The Pantry 6,911,163 26,732 0.39
company says is a turnaround initiative begun two years Genesco 1,502,119 7,750 0.52
ago. Among other things, it has absorbed a $16.5 million Fred’s 1,780,923 10,718 0.60
write-off involving impairment charges and losses Dillard’s 7,370,800 53,800 0.73
involving a number of restaurant locations as well as a O’Charley’s 977,752 7,232 0.74
commissary and other supply chain facilities. These
charges came at the same time sales were suffering as a All dollar figures in thousands
result of consumers’ cutting back on dining out in the
No food service busi- SIZZLING SEGMENT down from its foray SIZZLING SEGMENT
Upscale Dining 14.7%
ment stores. Jewelry, a Jewelry 14.6%
nesses are included in into regional depart-
Ruth’s Chris Steak House 17.6 Blue Nile 26.9
this group because
restaurants weren’t P.F. Chang’s 16.6 Tiffany 14.8
retail segment not rep-
part of the initial Hot McCormick & Schmick’s 16.3 resented at all in the Finlay Enterprises 13.1
100, but restaurants Cheesecake Factory 14.9 Top 100, is well-repre- Birks & Mayors 7.0
now constitute the Ark Restaurants 12.4 sented among Hot 100
largest segment among Morton’s 9.9 Retailers, including
Hot 100 Retailers, Benihana 8.9 Tiffany, Blue Nile, Finlay Enterprises (operator of leased
though for compila- departments and parent of the Bailey Banks & Biddle and
tion purposes they are grouped into three sub-segments Carlyle chains) and Birks & Mayors, which operates
(Sandwich/beverage, casual and upscale dining). stores in both Canada and the United States. St ORES
Size is not an impediment to hot sales, with fully 30 com-
panies appearing on both the Top 100 chart and the Hot David P. Schulz, a New York-based writer and editor,
100 list, ranging from Walmart at the top end to No. 99 reports on U.S. and foreign retailers for several publica-
Saks Fifth Avenue, which is prospering after slimming tions.
H18 STORES / AUGUST 2008 WWW.STORES.ORG
COMPANY HEADQUARTERS RANK COMPANY HEADQUARTERS RANK
1-800-Flowers Carle Place, N.Y. 34 H.H. Gregg Indianapolis 26
99 Cents Only Stores City of Commerce, Calif. 81 IHOP Glendale, Calif. 3
A&P Montvale, N.J. 24 Ingles Markets Asheville, N.C. 71
Abercrombie & Fitch New Albany, Ohio 51 J.Crew New York 40
Aéropostale New York 53 Jamba Emeryville, Calif. 29
AFC Enterprises Atlanta 68 Jos. A. Bank Hampstead, Md. 61
Amazon.com Seattle 4 Lumber Liquidators Toano, Va. 18
American Apparel Los Angeles 5 McCormick & Schmick’s Portland, Ore. 36
American Eagle Outfitters Pittsburgh 69 McDonald’s Oak Brook, Ill. 73
Ark Restaurants New York 54 Men’s Wearhouse Houston 56
bebe Stores Brisbane, Calif. 39 Morton’s Chicago 65
Bed Bath & Beyond Union, N.J. 99 Neiman Marcus Group Dallas 75
Benihana Miami 76 NPC International Overland Park, Kan. 52
Best Buy Minneapolis 59 O’Reilly Automotive Springfield, Mo. 62
Big Dog Holdings Santa Barbara, Calif. 97 P.F. Chang’s Scottsdale, Ariz. 35
Birks & Mayors Montreal 93 Panera Bread St. Louis 11
BJ’s Restaurants Huntington Beach, Calif. 7 The Pantry Sanford, N.C. 38
Blue Nile Seattle 13 PetSmart Phoenix 63
Brookstone Merrimack, N.H. 64 PriceSmart San Diego 19
The Buckle Kearney, Neb. 33 Recreational Equip. Inc. (REI)Seattle 48
Buffalo Wild Wings Minneapolis 27 Red Robin Gourmet Burgers Greenwood Village, Colo. 15
Burger King Miami 72 Retail Ventures Columbus, Ohio 67
Cabela’s Sidney, Neb. 47 Rite Aid Camp Hill, Pa. 2
California Pizza Kitchen Los Angeles 45 Ross Stores Pleasanton, Calif. 88
Caribou Coffee Minneapolis 78 Rubio’s Restaurants Carlsbad, Calif. 58
Casey’s General Stores Ankeny, Iowa 23 Ruby Tuesday Maryville, Tenn. 85
Charlotte Russe San Diego 79 Ruth’s Chris Steak House Heathrow, Fla. 31
Cheesecake Factory Calabasas Hills, Calif. 41 Saks New York 57
The Children’s Place Secaucus, N.J. 90 Shoe Pavilion Sherman Oaks, Calif. 28
Chipotle Mexican Grill Denver 8 Sonic Oklahoma City 60
Citi Trends Savannah, Ga. 44 Spartan Stores Grand Rapids, Mich. 55
Coldwater Creek Sandpoint, Idaho 70 Staples Framingham, Mass. 98
Collective Brands Topeka, Kan. 82 Starbucks Seattle 20
Conn’s Beaumont, Texas 83 SUPERVALU Eden Prairie, Minn. 30
Cosi Deerfield, Ill. 77 Susser Holdings Houston 22
Costco Issaquah, Wash. 92 Target Minneapolis 100
CVS Caremark Woonsocket, R.I. 1 Texas Roadhouse Louisville, Ky. 17
Darden Restaurants Orlando 25 Tiffany New York 42
Dick’s Sporting Goods Pittsburgh 14 TJX Framingham, Mass. 91
Dollar Tree Stores Chesapeake, Va. 94 Tractor Supply Brentwood, Tenn. 46
Dress Barn Suffern, N.Y. 66 Travel Centers of America Westlake, Ohio 10
drugstore.com Bellevue, Wash. 89 Tween Brands New Albany, Ohio 43
Duckwall-ALCO Abilene, Kan. 96 Ulta Romeoville, Ill. 21
El Pollo Loco Costa Mesa, Calif. 87 Urban Outfitters Philadelphia 16
Family Dollar Matthews, N.C. 95 Walgreen Deerfield, Ill. 49
Famous Dave’s of America Minnetonka, Minn. 86 Walmart Bentonville, Ark. 80
Finlay Enterprises New York 50 Wet Seal Foothill Ranch, Calif. 84
FTD Downers Grove, Ill. 9 Whole Foods Markets Austin, Texas 32
GameStop Grapevine, Texas 6 Yum Brands Louisville, Ky. 74
Gymboree San Francisco 37 Zumiez Everett, Wash. 12
WWW.STORES.ORG STORES / AUGUST 2008 H19