Shopping Centers Today is the news magazine of the International Council of Shopping Centers (ICSC)
Issue link: https://sct.epubxp.com/i/528948
"If something isn't a best seller, we track that information," said Rose Jan- nuzzi, SwimSpot's senior vice president of operations. "It can be just a fit issue, and we can make adjustments before we distribute it to the world," she said. "The beauty of swimwear is that people who are purchasing it are purchasing every single season, and in areas with warm weather, they're buying multiple times a year." So far, the four-year-old company has seven shops in its home state plus an outlet store in Arizona. It is looking to expand by up to five stores annually over the next three years in areas where the weather is right for swimming 365 days a year. The company is focused on the AJ MAnufAcTuRIng knows swimwear, having supplied this merchandise to retailers for nearly 50 years. So when Tustin, calif.–based Raj sought a way to test the waters, as it were, for some of its product lines, perhaps it did well to create a retail division of its own and name it SwimSpot. In any case, Raj always needs sales data early in the season so that if certain items are moving too slowly or not at all, the company can do whatever is necessary to rectify things. Western u.S and is particularly inter- ested in Arizona and Las Vegas, as well as Texas and Hawaii. "One key factor is weather and proximity to water," Jan- nuzzi said. "We're looking to grow very smart and strategically. We do see with our economic analytics that we have op- portunities beyond that." In addition to warm weather, SwimSpot looks for shopping centers with a tenant mix that consistently draws traffic. It likes to locate near such anchors as Bloomingdale's, neiman Marcus or nordstrom, as well as near tenants that cater to people with an active lifestyle. It looks for spaces ranging from 1,000 square feet to 3,000 square feet, though the company recently opened its first small store — just 670 square feet — at california's glendale galleria. "We like lifestyle centers," Jannuzzi said. R A place in the sun SwimSpot SeekS climateS that encourage cuStomerS to get outSide By Margaret Jackson R e t a i l i n g t o d a y 22 S C t / J u l y 2 0 1 5