http://www.suntimes.com/business/114...tore28.article
Loehmann's likes Loop
Fashion discounter to open store at State & Randolph
October 28, 2006
BY SANDRA GUY Business Reporter
Loehmann's, a discounter of designer fashions, will open its first store in Chicago next fall at the former Walgreen's location on the northeast corner of State and Randolph.
The store will take the first two levels of the Joffrey Tower, which will house the Joffrey Ballet's offices and rehearsal space and high-end condominiums.
Loehmann's chose the downtown site because of State Street's rebirth as a retail and student-housing mecca, and because people living downtown fit the Loehmann's shopper profile of a fashion-savvy woman whose household income is $85,000 or more, a company spokesman said Friday.
A Loehmann's shopper knows that she can get a good buy at $29.99, but she also understands that buying a top-notch, Italian designer handbag for $400 "is a steal," said Fred Forcellati, vice president of advertising for the Bronx, N.Y.-based Loehmann's.
Loehmann's has successfully emerged from a bankruptcy reorganization that saw the retailer reduce its presence in the Chicago market. In the mid-1990s, Loehmann's had stores in Morton Grove, Downers Grove and Orland Hills. The retailer now operates stores in Northbrook, Oak Brook and Morton Grove.
Loehmann's, now owned by an Islamic bank, operates 60 stores and intends to expand to 100 stores by 2010.
Retail expert Howard Davidowitz said Loehmann's will fill a niche because it is a dressier, more mature version of TJ Maxx.
"Loehmann's makes smaller buys [of merchandise] and therefore has a much more interesting inventory of actual designer and branded merchandise, plus private labels," said Davidowitz, chairman of Davidowitz & Associates Inc., a national retail consulting and investment banking firm in New York.