Charming Shoppes Closes Lane Byrant Woman Catalog, Some Stores

Charming Shoppes Inc., which saw its net losses skyrocket during its third quarter, is discontinuing its Lane Bryant Woman catalog and closing a number of stores.

The company recorded a net loss of just under $93 million, up from $3.6 million during third quarter 2007. The company’s net sales dropped from just under $600 million a year ago to $553 million. The quarter ended Nov. 1.

Roughly $35.2 million of its third-quarter 2008 loss was attributed to losses from discontinued operations: Its loss from continuing operations was $57.8 million, up from $1.7 million a year ago. Other higher-than-last-year expenses included impairment of store assets and restructuring charges.

Charming Shoppes will discontinue its Lane Bryant Woman catalog by the end of the first quarter of fiscal 2010, according to notes within its third-quarter financial results. The decision to close the catalog will allow the company to concentrate on its core Lane Bryant, Fashion Bug and Catherines brands. During the quarter, Charming Shoppes took $4.2 million in inventory write-down charges and $1.2 million in severance costs related to this decision.

Earlier this year, Charming Shoppes had identified 150 store locations it planned to close. To date, it has closed 100 of them, with the remainder due to be shut by the end of next January. With its third-quarter financial statement, the company announced it would close up to an additional 100 stores during 2010.