L Brands Bullish On Expansion Potential For Victoria’s Secret Sister Chain La Senza

A good fourth quarter for La Senza could mean expansion for the young U.S. chain.

Columbus-based L Brands Inc. (NYSE:LB) brought the Canada-born brand south of the border for the first time last fall with four stores including one at Easton Town Center and one at Polaris Fashion Place. Though a relative unknown here, it does have a few hundred shops in Canada and elsewhere around the world.

A fifth store just opened at Woodfield Mall in suburban Chicago, but more could be in the works for 2018.

La Senza President Michele Cloutier told me Thursday that the three stores that are more than a year old had high-single digit comparable sales.

“We’re very pleased,” she said during a tour of the store as part of L Brands’ annual investor meeting. “The acceptance has been high.”

No other new stores are in the plans yet, but Cloutier and L Brands CEO and founder Les Wexner will sit down to evaluate the business after the holiday season.

Wexner, for his part, seems bullish.

“We have an appetite for another 10 or 12,” he told stock analysts at the Thursday afternoon meeting. “If we do 12 off four (stores), then we can do 20 off 12.”

Wexner said international partners are eager to remodel stores and expand as well.

Despite the long international history, La Senza remains a virtual unknown in the U.S.

But Cloutier said the U.S. customer is who they thought it would be. The brand’s pitch lands between the college-aiming Pink and the more grown up Victoria’s Secret. Its products are more affordable and maybe a tad edgier than its sister brands.

The U.S. stores have yielded one surprise though.

Cloutier said while the most popular merchandise in the stores in Canada is split between basics/essentials and more fashionable items, the U.S. is much heavier toward the fashion side.

“It was born a fashion brand in the U.S.,” she said, crediting the observation to L Brands International President Martin Waters.

Source : bizjournals