Bon Marché launches new format

By Andrea Lillo -- Home Textiles Today, 11/12/2001 12:00:00 AM

SEATTLE —

The Bon Marché recently introduced its new single-level, stand-alone format to Helena, MT, consumers, tapping into a new area of opportunity for the store and its parent company, Federated Department Stores.

Focusing on real estate in a mid-sized community rather than a downtown area or a mall, the usual locations for Federated stores, the new format is designed for customers to shop in a full-line department store, featuring a single-level, single-entrance design and with centralized customer service centers. New features include customer call boxes, located throughout the store as well as in the fitting rooms, so consumers can quickly receive help from associates, and compact shopping carts, a new addition for The Bon Marché. The merchandise focuses on a better assortment: In the home area, which excludes furniture, that includes Ralph Lauren.

Already, the new 65,000-square-foot store has achieved positive sales results, said Kimberly Reason, spokesperson, and the company is very pleased with that performance. She added that it would be a minimum of six months before the company evaluated the format and decided whether it was viable for other locations.

The Bon Marché currently operates 44 stores in Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming.