IR Part III I visited the store at #342 Westside Pavilion ("Westside") in West LA (actually on the border, see previous post) and here is my report: As in the rest of store visited, NO SALE OR MARKOFF SIGNS OUTSIDE STORE. Inside the store, Gymboree had 50% off the Beanie Babies look-alike as at the Beverly Center. 40% off sweaters as at Santa Monica. 40-60% off sale on other winter clothing. Although it may seem a lot, 96-98% of the merchandise had no sale. I don't expect those sale items to sell even if lowered more since it's so hot here in LA. I went to Gap Kids, Westside's store number 379 and I will give them a 94-97% of the items not on sale, with sale items most/all on winter clothing. And the one that does, and this is with all Gap sales, were much steeper than Gymboree. When Gap sells something at $20 that is down from 60, it's a 66% discount. You don't realize this so I think Gymboree should start using the same method for their own sales.
Gymboree's store was visited between 1:50 and 1:52 PM PST. Kids Gap (less than half or half is Baby Gap) @1:54pm.
It was very hard for me, especially the last one, to go to those stores and I'll have to stop here.
My conclusion is that maybe Gymboree did have problems with inventory in the past but it's no longer existent. I clearly don't see why GPS investors are paying such a premium when they can get GYMB on the cheap.
Standing by my name once again,
Marty |
