Marshalls set to showcase new Designers Back Room - Marshalls Inc., off-price store

Discount Store News, Nov 5, 1990

Marshalls Set to Showcase New Designers Back Room

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. - Marshalls will open its 367th store in the Sawgrass Mills Outlet, here, Nov. 15. The new unit, one of its superstore prototypes, will feature Marshalls' newest specialty department - the Designers Back Room.

According to the company, the Designers Back Room is a store-within-a-store, in a totally separate room, that will feature a greater selection of bridge label merchandise. Though the retailer would not comment on specific labels, its various units already carry department store designer labels such as Chaus, Liz Claiborne and Perry Ellis, among others. The size of the area will vary according to the individual store. The Marshalls at the Sawgrass Mills Outlet has 1,000 square feet of space devoted to the room.

This will be the second back room at the off-pricer. The first is already in place at its Newton, Mass., store.

The Florida superstore will feature just over 54,000 square feet of selling space, double the average space for double the average space for its regular stores. Marshalls introduced the superstore concept last year with increased space for domestics and accessories departments. An average Marshalls store features about 25,000 square feet of space.

Marshalls joins the ranks of other off-price specialty stores, such as Loehmann's, in offering a back room atmosphere. At Loehmann's, The Back Room, also separated from the rest of the selling floor, tends to be reserved for higher priced items, such as designer cocktail dresses.

Despite the similarity in name, Marshalls said it called the new space `Designers' Back Room "to avoid confusion with other off-price apparel retailers."

The retailer reported it expects a total of nine select stores to have this room by the end of 1990. A company spokesman said that these are stores chosen on the basis of "where customers have proven a preference for better designer merchandise." More may be in the offing, depending on the success of these first nine.