Bradlees bites the Big Apple - Bradlees' Yonkers, New York store - Discount Store News Special Supplement: AM Apparel Merchandising

Discount Store News, June 21, 1993 by Jeffrey Arlen

Madonna, the entrepreneurial superstar, is said to reinvent herself every couple of years. The exercise-transition from material girl to spiritual sex goddess in both blond and brunette permutations - is meant to renew the interest of her faithful fans while expanding her base of allure.

The opening of Bradlees' oversized new store in Yonkers, the first for the chain in the New York metropolitan area, allows the Braintree, Mass.-based retailer to become, metaphorically at least, a Madonna of mass merchants.

The 207,000-sq.-ft. unit, which occupies a three-level former Alexander's site just a few miles north of the city, has a distinctly different appearance from other Bradless. It is twice as big as a typical unit and is the only one of Bradlees' 126 stores to operate on multiple levels.

An essential element of the Bradlees' competitive strategy rests on the premise that it can differentiate itself from its competitors by emphasizing strong apparel assortments and presentations. The Yonkers store, with more than 73,000 of its 144,000 sq. ft. of selling space devoted to apparel conforms to this approach. Upon entering the Central Park Avenue unit, a first-time Bradlees shopper could easily believe she has walked into a department store rather than a full-line discounter.

The 42,000-sq.-ft. ground level is devoted entirely to women's apparel, accessories, shoes, jewelry and cosmetics. As such, Bradlees merchants can highlight categories of merchandise that are often simply displayed as a portion of the general apparel mix.

"In this store, we have the luxury of setting up individual businesses within our core misses components-careerwear, activewear and casualwear," says Cecilia Swartz, senior vice president/general merchandise manager.

At the Yonkers store, swimwear is given extra aftention in a 24,000-sq.-ft. upfront department and intimate apparel sports a bridal selection of racy lingerie.

Special sizes, a serious focus area in most Bradlees locations is given extra emphasis in Yonkers. The merchandise in the 2,800-sq.-ft. plus size area includes a high percentage of contemporary goods, reflecting the direction that the business is beginning to take chainwide. "We used to focus on only the traditional and price point customer,' Swartz recalls. Also included in the plus size assortment are jeans from Riders, fashion separates from Bonjour, Hanes coordinates and bodywear.

Plus sizes are "old pacing" misses in sales increases at Bradlees, and Swartz believes that the plus size business has enormous potential at the store. "That business is really still untapped in terms of promotion. We ran one plus size spread in a circular earlier this year, and the results were just fabulous," she says.

Petite sizes are also well developed at Yonkers, where the category occupies 1,200 sq. ft. of floor space.

Another niche that Bradlees continues to focus on is juniors, a category that until recently was ignored or neglected by many discount operations. At Yonkers, the 3,200-sq.-ft. section-twice the size of a typical Bradlees juniors department - is located in a high visibility area at the front of the store. And, it features some of the trendiest merchandise one is likely to find at a mass merchant.

The list of forward items include an assortment of bell bottoms, which, says divisional merchandise manager Karen Cotton, "are going to happen for real in the '90s," halter tops, bra treatments, denim in both tops and bottoms, Lycra spandex bodysuits and tanks, grunge looks, tops sporting cartoon characters, cold shoulder tops and peasant skirts. Career juniors styles include linen separates that retail for $25 to $40.

Due to the giant proportions of the Yonkers unit, Bradlees merchants worked closer with suppliers to develop new displays. As a result, several power areas emerged. A colorful wall of Hanes For Her separates is particularly effective. "We have a very strong partnership with Hanes so we challenged them to come up with something different for this store," says Swartz.

As might be expected, children's wear, on the lower level in Yonkers, is housed in an outsized, 12,000-sq.-ft. area. More than twice the size of most Bradlees children's wear departments, it features some expedments such as a pre-teen swimwear department in girls' wear. In men's wear, Bradlees' executives developed another business segment that they believe can give the store a competitive edge. A display of boldly colored, hugely styled, urban-oriented hip hop merchandise dominates Young Attitudes, young men's department.

The Yonkers unit serves as a laboratory for the chain. It is a broad canvas for experimenting with assortments, price points - a t Yonkers many price barriers are broken - and displays. It also provides the raw data that merchants can analyze to find the best way to approach the New York region - an area for which Bradlees has big plans.