Catalog retail roundup

By early December, San Francisco-based gifts and gadgets marketer Sharper Image Corp.will have opened 20 new stores this fiscal year, bringing the company’s total number of stores to 127. The Sharper Image opened 14 stores in 2001 and nine in 2000.

Outdoor gear cataloger/retailer Cabela’s will open its first East Coast store in Tilden Township, PA. The 225,000-squ.-ft. store is expected to open next fall. Sidney, NE-based Cabela’s currently operates eight stores in the Midwest.

Women’s apparel marketer Coldwater Creek plans to have opened six full-line retail stores during its third quarter ending Nov. 30, according to the company’s second-quarter report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The filing didn’t specify the location of the stores. Sandpoint, ID-based Coldwater Creek operates 39 full-line stores, 34 of which were in operation during the company’s second quarter, compared with 11 full-line stores open during the second quarter of fiscal 2001.

Children’s home furnishings cataloger Pottery Barn Kids opened two new stores, in Oakbrook IL, in October, and in Emeryville, CA, in November. Part of the Williams-Sonoma family, which includes the signature kitchenware brand, Pottery Barn, and Hold Everything, Pottery Barn Kids was launched as a catalog in January 1999. The San Francisco-based company, which operates 477 stores in all, began opening Pottery Barn Kids stores two years ago.

Hampstead, MD-based men’s apparel marketer Jos. A. Bank Clothiers recently opened 10 stores, in Detroit, Grandville, and Saginaw, MI; Tulsa, OK; Huntsville, AL; Severna Park, MD; McLean, VA; Spartanburg, SC; Racine, WI; and Lancaster, PA. The company, which will end fiscal 2002 with 160 stores, recently announced its plans to expand to 500 stores during the next five years. These plans include opening at least 50 stores in 2003, up to 75 stores in 2004, and up to 100 stores each year thereafter.

Apparel marketer The Talbots announced in mid-November that it has finalized the locations of its first Talbots Mens stores. Expected to open in April 2003, the Talbots Mens stores will be located in Westport, CT; Worthington, OH; and King of Prussia, PA. The Hingham, MA-based company operates 882 stores, including 464 Talbots Misses stores (19 in Canada and five in the U.K.); 233 Talbots Petites stores (two in Canada); 41 Talbots Accessories & Shoes stores; 63 Talbots Kids stores; 56 Woman stores; and 25 Talbots Outlet stores (one in Canada and one in the U.K.). The company, which launched the Talbot Mens brand in October with a 24-page catalog, plans to open six Talbots Mens stores in 2003, as well as additional stores in 2004.