Fred's Focused on Home, Leveraging High-margin Product Assortment

Home Textiles Today Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 10/26/2010 4:23:21 AM

MEMPHIS, TENN. - Home was singled out as an area of focus within the company's Core 5 category revamping program, Fred's Inc. told analysts during its presentation last week at the William Blair & Company 2010 Emerging Growth Stock Conference.
     Bruce Efird, director, ceo and president of the 674-unit regional discount and pharmacy chain, said: "The way we differentiate ourselves from our key competitors is that our selling square footage is more than two times the space allocated to other small box retailers. And with the pilot changes in these higher-margin discount home departments, we see our sales performance at over $140 to $150 per square foot."
     The "super discount home" business at Fred's, he continued, is a significant factor of sales, "when you're thinking about improving the overall productivity of the store...We are leveraging this area of the store."
     Anchoring the Core 5 program at Fred's is pharmacy.