In less than a week, fashion retailer New York & Company will be no more, well at least in name.
The women”™s specialty retailer said that it would be changing its name to RTW Retailwinds Inc. on Nov. 19.
The retailer has stores at the Yonkers Gateway Center, Cross County Shopping Center, Palisades Center Mall, Jefferson Valley Mall, Danbury Fair Mall and Westfield Trumbull Mall.
“RTW reflects our vision to maximize the power of our platform to create destination celebrity and lifestyle brand assortments across categories and channels,” CEO Greg Scott said in a statement. “We move forward strongly positioned to continue our expansion of NY&Co, expanding celebrity brands with the upcoming launch of Kate Hudson and entering intimate apparel ”“ a core competency of our team. We are excited about our future and ability to continue to drive value creation for all RTW shareholders.”
RTW Retailwinds will ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange on Nov. 20 when the company”™s common stock will begin trading under the new name.
The company announced on Sept. 11 that it would change its name as part of a “corporate reinvention to a multibrand lifestyle platform.”
The company said in that statement that the change “will accelerate growth of the New York & Company brand through ongoing celebrity partnerships, including collaborations with Eva Mendes, Gabrielle Union and Kate Hudson, while also expanding the recently acquired plus-size brand, Fashion to Figure, as well as introducing several new brands, including a lingerie lifestyle brand and the Kate Hudson Collection that leverage the company”™s design capabilities, digital platform, and operational expertise.”
As part of its strategy, the company said it could benefit from its “real estate agility,” stating it has “a highly flexible real estate portfolio, with 70 percent of store leases could be terminated by the company in two years or less.” It added that by opening stores “with short-term leases in attractive locations presents an opportunity for new brands to build brand awareness and customer acquisition.”
The company has 428 retail and outlet locations in 36 states.
