Marc, who describes himself as a “serial entrepreneur,” has had a much more varied career since Lechmere, including working at early e-commerce player Compucard, starting and selling a telecom business and opening a vegetarian restaurant and market in Connecticut. ![]() Since leaving the fashion industry she has spent the majority of her time advising and mentoring women in business. After Lechmere’s demise, Pam went on to spend much of the next several decades in the fashion and footwear business where she was president of several well-known retailers including Candies, Stride Rite Children’s Group and the outlet division of Nine West, which she started and built into an off-price mainstay. The two met at Lechmere, the long-gone kitchen and housewares chain and have been married for 35 years. “We’re all about the treasure hunt and e-commerce doesn’t lend itself well to treasure hunts. We will first focus on enhancing the customers’ in-store experience and therefore, e-commerce will not be a top priority for us over the next 24 months. We realize how important it is to give our customers multiple ways to interact with the brand and will continue to evaluate and explore e-commerce strategies. We will anticipate re-launching the online shop when we are confident that we can offer our customers a similarly satisfying shopping experience to that of our stores.”įor both Pam and Marc Salkovitz Christmas Tree Shops represents the next step in long and varied careers across a wide swath of the retailing business. E-commerce, which was not really a focus for the brand under previous management, will continue to be on the back burner as attention is centered on physical stores.We believe that the CTS value proposition and positioning fills a void between an Ollies customer and a HomeGoods customer we offer value and selection in a pleasant and inviting atmosphere. This sweet spot will fuel store expansion beyond our existing portfolio and we are especially optimistic that the current retail landscape will provide new and favorable real estate opportunities for the brand.” “We currently operate in 20 states mostly along the east coast and we have a strategic plan for growing the chain post-Covid. The 80 existing stores - he says all are profitable - are expected to be retained but expansion plans beyond that are on hold for the time being. While under previous ownership, the chain experimented with various names, Salkovitz said the plan is to operate under just the single Christmas Tree Shops brand.We will operate our distribution center in Middleboro, Massachusetts while the corporate team, mostly based in Union New Jersey, will continue to be located in the same area.” It is our goal to build a stand-alone business that has a strong internal foundation of superior systems, processes, tools and people to support our successful growth. We are investing heavily in creating new IT systems that will roll out over the next 18 months and will best support the specific needs of this company. “IT, HR and finance were the functions that were most intertwined with the parent company and where we have had the opportunity to attract and onboard top talent leaders that complements the existing management team. Staffing will be a mix of existing personnel from the previous ownership as well as rebuilt areas that had been under BBB centralized services. ![]() “This process, along with our long-standing manufacturing relationships, aids us in being able to provide new and unique product collections all year round.”
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |