Reviving a grande dame

He's been in charge for a year now and believes that after a decade of false starts, Stuttafords' turnaround strategy is finally on track.

The drive to reposition Stuttafords as an international brand showcase gained traction about 10 months ago, with the refurbishment of the Sandton store. Another nine stores will get the same treatment over a three-year period. Smaller stores will be closed or relocated to super regional malls. First will be the Stuttafords in Durban's Musgrave Centre, which will be relocated to the booming Gateway complex. Renovations have begun on the store in Cape Town's Canal Walk.

The first two makeovers will be funded by shareholders. The rest, says Cicoria, will be funded from retained earnings. Sandton alone cost about R25m.

“We are not reinventing a retail concept,” says Cicoria. “We are taking Stuttafords back to what it was — a destination shopping experience.” This, he says, is epitomised by department stores such as Selfridges in London and Bloomingdale's in New York.

This was the vision he bought into when he invested in the buyout of the company by a consortium led by Bruce Rubenstein's Vestacor with Retail Ventures and the Ellerine brothers two years ago. They acquired the heavily indebted company from former CEO Charles Fox, AMB Private Equity and Nedbank. Prior to that it was owned by Pepkor, where it sat uneasily among the low-cost apparel stores and mass-market grocers.

The new vision means big stores, 4000m² in the case of Sandton, that will stock the full range of a particular brand of clothing or cosmetics.

It also means bringing in brands that have a certain cachet in SA. “Banana Republic, Gap, and French Connection are desirable brands that are exclusive to Stuttafords,” Cicoria says.

As a retailer with a patchy track record, landing these big brands was easier said than done.

“The brand owners were not sure they wanted to invest until the look and feel of the stores was correct. We wore out the soles of our shoes persuading them that our vision dovetailed with their brand strategy,” says Vestacor's Bruce Rubenstein

Vestacor has a track record in the retail sector that may have counted. It holds interests in Look & Listen and WM Spilhaus, and has historically held interests in Sportsman's Warehouse, Outdoor Warehouse, Dunns, Burgers, and Morkels.

Stuttafords will continue to stock brands such as Jeep and Billabong, as well as its own label, Oaktree. But it is the exclusive relationships that Cicoria believes will make the difference. “I can't be an Edgars, Woolworths or Truworths. I don't have the volumes, IT systems, or the people. I am not in the volume game,” he says, “I'm in the margin game.”

With a chain of just 13 stores, what Stuttafords can afford to have is service.

Along with the reintroduction of the classic department store model, Cicoria plans to re-introduce old-fashioned service. Tailors, corsetiers and a personal dresser are waiting in the wings.

Recession aside, it seems there is a portion of the population prepared to pay for such service and exclusive brands: the store in Sandton is growing turnover 25% month on month — though off a small base.

Others are noticing too. Big landlords are now phoning Cicoria. Once it was the other way around.

Source: Financial Mail

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