Bensalem, PA-based Charming Shoppes has decided to close the Greenwich, CT, offices of its Crosstown Traders catalogs and consolidate them with the rest of the catalog operation in Tucson, AZ.
The Greenwich offices currently handle the Bedford Fair, Willow Ridge, Lew Magram, and Brownstone Studio titles. Crosstown’s other catalogs include Old Pueblo Traders, California Style, Regalia, and Coward Shoe.
The company hasn’t announced a date for the move, but it’s likely that the switch will occur by the end of the year. Charming Shoppes spokesperson Gayle Coolick says there’s no motive for the move other than that it’s simply time to consolidate all its apparel titles in one spot.
Charming Shoppes, which purchased Crosstown Traders in June 2005 (see “Charming Deal for Crosstown”), had been contemplating the move for a while. “Our management team had been spanning four different time zones,” says Coolick. “And it was becoming difficult to deal with all the overlapping—with four apparel titles being managed out on the East Coast.”
Coolick says that the majority of the 95 employees in Greenwich will be offered severance packages and outplacement referrals as an official date for closing the Greenwich location draws nearer. An undisclosed number of remaining associates will be given an option to relocate to Tucson.