Will LNT = Brand TNT?
Down to an utter shell, the national retailer that used to be Linens ’n Things is now a brand that could reappear as a going concern online and as shop-in-shops.
Will consumers buy into LNT once again?
Liquidators-turned brand developers Gordon Brothers Brands and Hilco Consumer Capital think so. At any rate, they are willing to run some slight risk to find out. They teamed up to pay $1 million for the brand, web domain and associated intellectual property.
The Gordon-Hilco joint venture won’t actually be risking $1 million upfront. First, they get a $300,000 transaction fee for buying the LNT brand. Then they are due $350,000 per year as a management fee. On paper, that equals break-even at the end of year two, less expenses incurred for redesigning the LNT website, plus developing marketing materials to pitch their plan to revive Linens ’n Things inside somebody else’s doors.
Any takers?
Is there a retail chain with 10,000- to 15,000-square-foot holes to fill on their selling floors? A regional test case might be a chain like Stein Mart, which has chronically underperforming home departments – although its footprint is likely too small. How about Sears, then? That national merchant has experience with shop-in-shops, with such recent efforts as its Lands’ End in-store boutique.
LNT could be consumer dynamite. Who will Gordon-Hilco find to light the fuse?
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