Dress-up biz is no child's play - discounters market dress clothes for children - AM

Discount Store News, August 1, 1994

Selling boys' and girls' dresswear in the mass market has always been a tricky proposition. The trend toward casual dressing hasn't made matters any easier.

Although casual wear is the heart and soul of the mass apparel business, many retailers do offer a small girls' and boys' dress assortment during the key holiday selling periods of Easter and Christmas.

Referring to girl's dresses, Matthew Sudhalter, merchandise manager at Stuarts, the 20-unit chain based in Franklin, Mass., says, "Today's shopper wants a good look at a good price," noting Stuarts will carry 25 domestic and imported holiday styles from such labels as Fashionland and Not Only Dresses, retail priced $9.99 to $27.99.

Sudhalter says Stuarts' floor space is set for the entire year, but the retailer maneuvers existing fixtures to create a small seasonal area of four-ways and T-stands.

Henderson, N.C.-based Rose's has successfully woven a modest dresswear assortment into its children's mix. The chain plays upon the fact that its customer base - Southerners with traditional values - ring up dress sales.

"Our mainstays are infant and toddler velvet dresses, a category always driven by color - classic red and green - and Christmas motifs," says Rose's Kathy Hurley, vice president and general merchandise manager of apparel and domestics. She adds the selection "has remained on a level percent of the total volume," and the stores will carry 15 to 25 styles for the holiday.

However, evidence of change in girls' dresswear is apparent at Ames, the 306-unit chain based in Rocky Hill, Conn.

"As the years go on, everything in kids' is turning to ready-to-wear," says Theresa Trahan, girls' dress buyer. "Dollars have traded off. The pant set is now replacing the traditional dress. We've developed the pant set into a year-round business, and at holiday, it presents less chance of a mark-down than a fancy dress."

Trahan says Ames converts 30 to 40 percent of the girls' wear department into "true holiday," making room for dress-up by taking space away from another seasonal category.

Since consumer interest in traditional dresses is waning, Trahan says she relies on sportswear vendors who are producing more relaxed dress styles, including Evy of California, T.L.C., Randy of California, R.M.L.A., The Little Trotter and Little Laura of California.

The future of traditional boys' dresswear is also dim, say the discounters. "The business is not what is used to be," says Sudhalter. "Ours [boys' dresswear business] is minimal."

Suits are a risk at the discount level, he says, but there remains a place on the floor, albeit limited, for casual sets and coordinates. "If a retailer has an established boys' business, that's great, but if they don't, it's a killer to get one off the ground. As long as boys want to wear flannels, brandname sneakers and team-licensed T-shirts, dress-up will suffer."

After some experimentation with dresswear, certain retailers have concluded that the category is more trouble than it's worth. "Dresswear has not performed well in our stores," explains Skip Chustz, vice president and general merchandise manager of Green Bay, Wis.-based ShopKo, the 122-unit discounter. "The whole life-style of kids today has changed. We do better with jeans and casual separates." For holiday, ShopKo will offer casual knit dresses as a substitute for traditional dresswear.

Boys' dress-up is nearly nonexistent at ShopKo, but the stores do offer H.I.S. wrinkle-free pants and woven shirts as alternatives.

"Mass dress-up will always be a seasonal business, peaking at Easter and Christmas," contends Kathy Bradley-Riley, divisional merchandise manager of children's wear at The Doneger Group, a New York-based buying office. "Stores won't invest a year-round effort into it because their sales are based on margins. Discount clothing must be profitable, and selling dresswear in the off-season is just too fringe."

While discounters in general are downplaying dress-up apparel, other mass merchants are still managing to maintain the business.

"We carry dresswear all year because there are always times when kids need to get dressed up," says Mary Kwan, divisional vice president and general merchandise manager of the children's division of Hoffman Estates, Ill-based Sears Merchandise Group.

During off-peak periods, Sears segments girls' dresses by size and houses them with sportswear. At peak times - Easter, Christmas and graduation - dresses in all sizes are pooled to form what Kwan calls a "holiday shop," a dress-specific department of six to seven floor fixtures. Labels included there are Jo Lene, Just Kids, New Age, Chorus Line, Disorderly Kids, Emily West and Swat.

Using the same techniques, Sears has built at lucrative boys' dresswear business. The outlets carry a comprehensive selection of slacks, shirts and blazers from Dockers, Farah and Arrow, and fabric-blend suits sold under private label.

Boys' inventory is increased at peak periods, with each outlet merchandising product via four to five flooor fixtures.