DAVID GREENE, HOST:
Talbots, the women's clothing seller, has been struggling lately. And now, it is getting a new owner. The private equity firm Sycamore Partners hopes to turn around the 65-year-old retailer.
From member station WBUR in Boston, Curt Nickisch reports.
CURT NICKISCH, BYLINE: Talbots' core customers have been people like Ava Beaulieu, who's a strategic planner at a Boston health-care company.
AVA BEAULIEU: In the past, I would buy suits, dresses, shoes and accessories for work.
NICKISCH: She stopped buying at Talbots three years ago. With the recession, Beaulieu decided she didn't need to restock her wardrobe as often.
Patty Edwards, a retail industry analyst at Trutina Financial, says there were a lot of women like Beaulieu and, she says, office fashions have been changing.
PATTY EDWARDS: The high-tech world does not dress. In fact, you're considered overdressed if you show up with a jacket on.
NICKISCH: Talbots first tried to respond by reaching out to younger customers. It didn't work.
KATE CORDA: I don't even think I've really been in there.
(LAUGHTER)
NICKISCH: Twenty-five-year-old Kate Corda says none of her colleagues want to shop where their moms do. Worse, loyal customers were turned off by the low-slung, frilly tops next to the gray suits. Analyst Patty Edwards says Talbots has to update its fashion lines, but keep them true to the brand.
EDWARDS: So that it is a cool place for 30- and 40-year-olds to go in and find suiting that is classic, but not dowdy.
NICKISCH: Talbots' new owner is getting a relatively cheap shot at a turnaround. Sycamore is buying the company for around 10 percent of the stock value five years ago.
For NPR News, I'm Curt Nickisch in Boston. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.