Spencer's Restyled as Urban Chic

Egg Harbor Township, NJ -- Spencer Gifts Holdings Inc. finalized the testing phase of a store remodel plan in spring, putting forward an urban, industrial "warehouse" look as the new face of the store. At press time, the novelty retailer had converted 124 of its 600 mall stores, with plans to complete the chain-wide redesign over the next five years.The chain's new appearance reflects an updated approach to Spencer's target audience and merchandising strategy, says CEO Steven Silverstein. One of the key elements of the new design is a name change, from Spencer Gifts to simply Spencer's. "We've always been referred to as Spencer's, but we've shifted focus from being purely a gift source to being an everyday, 'buy-for-me,' lifestyle store," Silverstein says. Focused on Generation Y (18- to 24-year-olds), Spencer's now carries an array of everyday accessories, from bedroom decor to personal lifestyle accessories like messenger bags. The novelty gift and seasonal stock has been pared down, though the stores will still sell the lava lamps for which they are famous.Silverstein, former president of Linens 'n Things, drew on his experience with big-box layouts and vertical merchandising to update the store's look. Low ceilings were raised to accommodate an overhead stocking platform, allowing for more space everywhere. "All of the perimeter fixturing was up against the wall in rigid 4-foot sections, and because a lot of the merchandise that we do is hard goods, there were boxes wrapped around the perimeter of the store, which made it feel very claustrophobic," says Silverstein. Now the boxes are stowed in the overhead space and the entire perimeter is built in slatwall, "so it's entirely flexible in terms of the fixturing we can use."The new layout also allows the store to be divided into "bubbles," Silverstein says, meaning that different types of items command attention in targeted boutique areas of the store. For example, he explains, new stores feature a 16- to 24-foot accessory wall to carry small personal items like wallets, belts and handbags, displaying the products "in a much more dramatic way than we were able to in our former design."The front of the store shouts out the new urban theme, with cultured stone made to look like brick and steel garage doors covered in graffiti tags. "Spencer's is really that back-alley club that you can only find if you already know it's there," says Silverstein of the concept behind the style. The design references bits of Spencer's culture, such as the chain's founding year, 1947, which is printed on the cornerstones of the fa ade. Spencer's worked with JGA, a retail design and brand strategy firm based in Southfield, MI, to plan and execute the new look. Individual store remodels, which involve an entire gutting and rebuilding, take six to eight weeks. Typically, Spencer's relocates its store to another space within the mall during the process. The company's internal construction department manages the remodeling, overseeing teams of third-party contractors. The first remodeled stores were completed in 2004 and 2005, and the updated stores were closely managed and monitored by an independent management team, separate from the field management group that oversees mainstream stores, Silverstein says. "It wasn't until the beginning of this year that we felt that we had mastered the issues, merchandising challenges, operating challenges and functionality issues." Between March and June, the new stores were integrated into the field management structure (an operational change, not a financial one), making them part of the Spencer's total store population.On Aug. 21, Spencer Gifts Holdings announced its purchase by ACON Investments, a private equity investment firm located in Washington, DC. Spencer's will continue to be operated by its former management team, and remodel plans remain intact.

Spencer's Restyled as Urban Chic

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