September 7, 2007

Retail Roundup

Brand new Victoria’s Secret now open at Eastridge

A familiar name has become one of Eastridge Mall’s biggest additions in Victoria’s Secret, which recently opened a brand new 10,000 square foot store at Eastridge’s Lower Level, located near JCPenney and LensCrafters.

The Eastridge store features the Victoria’s Secret brand’s newest store concept, and is only the second store in the Bay Area - after its San Francisco flagship store – to provide a unique layout and its vast array of product offerings.

Victoria’s Secret is a segment of the publicly traded Limited Brands with sales surpassing $5 billion and an operating income of $1 billion in 2006.

The new store is a dramatic upgrade from the previous 6,400 square foot location in the mall’s upper level center court. The new addition of square footage creates the effect of many boutiques within one store that carries much more than just bras and panties, but also full lines of lingerie, Victoria’s Pink, and beauty products. The store is divided into three main sections: women’s intimate apparels in bras, panties, lingerie and sleepwear; beauty products; and Pink: a lineup of loungewear, sleepwear, and intimate apparel targeted towards college undergraduates.

“The new Victoria’s Secret store shows Eastridge’s commitment to create a special place and experience for San Jose shoppers by giving them what they want and when they want it,” said Alice Snyder, the mall’s Marketing Manager.

This year’s baby doll trend can be found throughout the store in lace-trim, satin and silk.

Shopping for a bridal shower has also never been easier, with affordably priced hoodies and tank tops for brides-to-be.

The most recent product includes The Flip Reversible Bra from the Very Sexy collection, the first-ever Victoria’s Secret reversible bra, which has solid color on one side and print on the other. The Secret Embrace style of reversible flip bra ranges in price from $45 to $48 each.

Victoria's Secret was first started in Palo Alto in 1977 by Stanford School of Business Graduate Roy Raymond, who felt embarrassed and awkward while trying to purchase lingerie for his wife. He opened the first store at Stanford Shopping Center, and quickly followed it with a mail order catalog and three other stores.

The stores were meant to create a comfortable environment for men and women with wood paneled walls, Victorian details, and a helpful sales staff. Taking away from the traditional department store shopping environment with racks of bras and panties in every size, at the very beginning, Victoria’s Secret offered single styles in display so that guests could browse and let the sales staff help estimate the for appropriate size by pulling from inventory. In 1982, after five years of operation, Roy Raymond sold the company to The Limited.