NEW YORK — Striving to recapture the edge it had in the Eighties as a leading apparel discounter, Bradlees Inc. will launch a reinvigorated marketing campaign Friday with added TV and radio exposure, increased circulation of direct mailings and new signs in the stores.
In some cases, radio spots will hype store openings, with three stores opening in March in Providence, R.I., and Danvers and Worcester, Mass.
The new TV ads, produced by Publicis/Bloom Advertising Agency of New York, will mark the return of “Mrs. B,” Bradlees’ spokeswoman in the Seventies and Eighties, played by Cynthia Harris, who stars in the TV sitcom, “Mad About You.”
Bradlees gained an edge over its rivals by giving apparel 50 percent and more of floor space, creating a product development division to turn out interpretations of trends and refocusing private label lines. However, the chain let the apparel business slide, even as it expanded to more urban sites, such as Union Square in Manhattan and Yonkers, N.Y., with larger stores. In the early Nineties, apparel, accessories and shoes accounted for about 45 percent of the chain’s volume, but has dropped to between 30 and 40 percent now.
Bradlees has been operating in bankruptcy protection since last June and, like other regional discounters, has been struggling in the Northeast’s weak retail environment. The 134-unit chain reported a third-quarter loss of $35.3 million before interest, reorganization items and an income-tax benefit. Sales in the three months ended Oct. 28 were down 11.1 percent to $418.7 million.
Peter Thorner, president and chief operating officer, said the stepped-up marketing campaign is geared to “let the world know that there is a change in Bradlees.”
“Bringing Mrs. B back is a way of reinforcing the fact that the focus of the Bradlees of 10 years ago as a value-oriented, fashion-forward home and apparel store is what we’re trying to achieve,” he said in an interview.
Over the past year, Bradlees has upgraded apparel assortments by adding richer price points, keeping trends clearer and more consistent across the store and emphasizing strong categories such as intimate apparel. The chain also revised store layouts, including moving dresses to the front of ready-to-wear, and redesigned the weekly circular with more dramatic covers to help give the chain a stronger image.
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The changes reflect new management at Bradlees, including Mark A. Cohen, who joined the discounter as chairman and chief executive in December 1994 from the Lazarus division of Federated Department Stores. Cohen has recruited a number of executives from the department-store ranks to help carry out the changes.
Last week, Bradlees hired Judy Dunning as vice president of strategic planning. She was vice president of merchandise planning for Rich’s/Lazarus/Goldsmiths Department Stores, a division of Federated Department Stores.
Dunning is responsible for merchandise plan development and merchandise forecasting and will help develop merchandise systems. She reports to Cohen.
This month, Bradlees named Michael Trafford and George Van Eron as regional vice presidents, stores, and consolidated its three operating regions into two. Regional offices in Edison, N.J.; North Haven, Conn., and Braintree, Mass., are closing in March and all store-support activities will be relocated to headquarters in Braintree.
Before joining Bradlees, Trafford was a regional vice president for Rich’s/Lazarus/Goldsmiths, and Van Eron was executive vice president, director of stores and real estate for Cherry, Webb & Touraine.
Thorner said Bradlees has recruited several department store executives because of the skills they have contending with larger apparel assortments, which change four or five times a year at a department store.
“Traditional soft and hard line assortments at mass merchants may change only two or three times a year,” he said.
As a key to its turnaround strategy, Bradlees executives have said the chain needs to put more emphasis on soft lines and less on commodities.
Cohen said, “We have essentially reorganized virtually all senior management and middle management in our company as a reflection of our need to fundamentally reengineer our business. This effort began well before we were forced to file for Chapter 11 and has taken on even greater importance since that time.”
Bradlees also said its 134 stores are now organized in 10 districts, instead of 14. The consolidation of regional and district offices are expected to save Bradlees between $500,000 to $750,000 a year, though the company said the downsizing did not involve any layoffs.