Bradlees' operating profits surge as retailer streamlines operations

Discount Store News, April 15, 1991

Bradlees' Operating Profits Surge As Retailer Streamlines Operations

BRAINTREE, Mass. -- Bradless operating profits surged 11.9% in 1990, even though sales eked out a scant 1% gain.

Operating profits for Bradlees, a division of Stop & Shop Cos., rose to $62 million for the year ended Feb. 2, 1991, from $55.4 million a year earlier.

Bradlees improved profitability resulted from better merchandising controls and promotional strategies that favorably affected margins, its parent company said in a year-end financial statement.

Stop & Shop is a privately owned company, acquired three years ago in a $1.2 billion leveraged buyout by Kohlberg Kravis and Roberts.

Bradlees then operated more than 160 stores. Following the acquisition, KKR sold the leases to 31 money-losing stores in Bradlees southern division and closed a few others. Year-end store count stood at 130.

Bradlees sales rose to $1.77 billion in 1990 from $1.75 billion in 1989.

Bradlees' same store sales gain also was 1%.

Bradlees accounted for 35.5% of corporate sales in 1990, down from 37.8% the previous year, while supermarket sales accounted for the balance. The discount store division contributed 33.9% of corporate operating profit in 1990, down from 36.3% in 1989.

Bradlees will open no new stores in 1991, but is remodeling 17 stores this year to its new prototype (see related story, page 53).