Express 2010 Annual Report Download - page 26

Store Locations
The following store list shows the number of stores we operated as of January 29, 2011 in the United States and
Puerto Rico:
Location Count Location Count Location Count
Alabama ................ 9 Louisiana ............. 7 Oklahoma ............. 5
Arizona ................. 8 Maine ................ 2 Oregon ............... 4
Arkansas ................ 2 Maryland ............. 9 Pennsylvania ........... 26
California ............... 71 Massachusetts .......... 19 Puerto Rico ............ 2
Colorado ................ 11 Michigan .............. 20 Rhode Island ........... 3
Connecticut .............. 9 Minnesota ............. 14 South Carolina ......... 9
Delaware ................ 3 Mississippi ............ 2 South Dakota .......... 1
District of Columbia ....... 2 Missouri .............. 11 Tennessee ............. 11
Florida ................. 43 Nebraska .............. 3 Texas ................ 52
Georgia ................. 18 Nevada ............... 7 Utah ................. 5
Hawaii ................. 1 NewHampshire ........ 4 Vermont .............. 1
Idaho ................... 1 NewJersey ............ 21 Virginia ............... 19
Illinois .................. 32 NewMexico ........... 3 Washington ............ 7
Indiana ................. 11 NewYork ............. 41 West Virginia .......... 1
Iowa ................... 8 North Carolina ......... 15 Wisconsin ............. 8
Kansas ................. 4 North Dakota .......... 1
Kentucky ............... 5 Ohio ................. 20 Total ................. 591
Store Design and Environment
We design our stores to create a distinctive and engaging shopping environment that we believe resonates with
our customers. Our stores feature a vibrant and youthful look, bright signage, and popular music. Our stores are
constructed and finished to allow us to efficiently shift merchandise displays throughout the year as seasons
dictate. We plan to introduce a new store design consistent with our design philosophy in two new stores
scheduled to open in July 2011. To further enhance our customers’ experience, we seek to attract enthusiastic
store associates who are knowledgeable about our products and able to offer superior customer service and
expertise. We believe that our store atmosphere enhances our brand as a provider of the latest fashions.
North American Store Growth
Now that we have largely completed our transition to a dual-gender store base, we plan to open an average of 30
new stores per year in the United States and Canada in each of the next five years. Our new store strategy is to
open stores of the similar size, location type, and productivity as in our current fleet. Our average net investment
to open a new store during the last three years was approximately $0.6 million.
We intend to focus on opening stores in high-traffic malls, lifestyle centers, and street locations. We plan to
utilize our in-house real estate team to identify attractive locations, negotiate leases, and manage the construction
costs for our new stores. In selecting shopping centers in which to locate a new store, we target locations with
demographics that resemble those of our current locations, including a large 18 to 30 year old customer base, and
favorable lease terms. We generally seek to locate our stores in malls in which similar fashion retailers have
performed well. Within the shopping centers in which we seek to locate stores, we target locations in high-traffic
areas of the shopping center and near other popular retailers that cater to our customers. We also focus on
evaluating the market and mall-specific competitive environment for potential new store locations. We seek to
diversify our store locations regionally and by caliber of mall. We have currently identified approximately 300
potential sites for new stores with appropriate market characteristics.
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