goodbye Casual Corner

Retail Brand Alliance to sell Casual Corner to liquidator

By JAMES COVERT (Dow Jones Newswires)

NEW YORK - The owner of Casual Corner Group Inc. said it will sell the struggling women's clothing chain to a liquidator, which may in turn sell a chunk of its stores to a big rival.

Looking to spend more time on its upscale Brooks Brothers chain, privately owned Retail Brand Alliance Inc. plans Thursday to sell Casual Corner's 550 stores to Gordon Brothers Group LLC, a Boston-based retail liquidator, Retail Brand Alliance President and Chief Executive Claudio Del Vecchio said in an interview.

Casual Corner's retail locations, which occupy malls and shopping destinations across about 45 U.S. states, typically house multiple stores under names including Casual Corner, Petite Sophisticate and August Max. Taken together, the leases account for more than 1,000 boutiques.

"Casual Corner will probably take a lot of energy and resources to fix," Del Vecchio said. "Now we're positioned to focus more of our energy on Brooks Brothers."

Del Vecchio declined to discuss specific terms of the deal, but said previous estimates that Casual Corner might fetch $250 million to $300 million proved overly optimistic. Aside from a more modest cash payment, the agreement is largely a transfer of leases, he said. The companies plan to sign the agreement Thursday, but don't intend to publicly announce it, as they are both privately owned, Del Vecchio said.

New York & Co., a competitor to Casual Corner in the mid-priced women's apparel niche with nearly 500 stores of its own, had spoken with Retail Brand Alliance in recent weeks about possibly acquiring 250 Casual Corner sites, Del Vecchio said. Now, the retailer is in negotiations with Gordon Brothers to acquire the sites, he said.

Del Vecchio wasn't able to provide details of those talks, and New York & Co. didn't respond to requests for comment. But a person familiar with the matter said an agreement with New York & Co. isn't a done deal yet.