Ascena Group, Owner of Maurices, May Close 250 Stores

DULUTH, Minn.-The Ascena Retail Group, which owns multiple retail outlet including the Duluth-based Maurices, has announced they will be closing 250 stores in the near future.

Currently there are 4,850 retail stores owned by Ascena, with a thousand of them being Maurices. Other stores in their portfolio include Dress Barn, Catherine’s, and Lane Bryant.

Representatives from the company told us sales were down about $100 million this past quarter, compared to last year. They are also projecting an eight percent sales drop next quarter. It is possible these drops in sales could lead to another 400 stores closing, other than the initial 250.

Despite all this, Acsena still turned a profit last quarter of about $9.6 million. Plans are also in the works to renegotiate some of their stores leases which could also save the business money.

“We expect these factors will remain major headwinds for the foreseeable future and reflect an accelerated shift to consumer demand toward e-commerce,” said David Jaffe, CEO of Acsena Retail Group, in a conference call with investors yesterday. “Responding to the shift requires fundamental changes in retail operating model, and we’ve made significant progress toward transforming our business to compete in this new environment. Make no mistake, we were very disappointment with our performance for the quarter, and we must accelerate our transformation and improve execution across our portfolio.”

In January of this year, Maurices eliminated 165 positions across the country including 25 corporate positions in Duluth.