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The Children's Place

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The Children’s Place Inc.
Company typePublic
IndustryApparel
Founded1969; 55 years ago (1969)
FoundersDavid Pulver
Clinton Clark
HeadquartersSecaucus, New Jersey
Number of locations
904 (2023)[1]
Area served
Worldwide
ProductsChildren’s apparel and accessories
RevenueDecrease US$1.708 billion (2023)
Decrease −US$1.530 billion (2023)
Decrease −US$1.381 billion (2023)
Total assetsDecrease US$986.28 million (2023)
Total equityDecrease US$158.478 million (2023)
Number of employees
3,300 (2023)
SubsidiariesGymboree
Websitewww.childrensplace.com

The Children's Place Inc. is an American specialty retailer of children's apparel and accessories headquartered in Secaucus, New Jersey.[2] It also markets apparel under the Children's Place, Place, Baby Place, and Gymboree brand names.[3]

As of October 31, 2015, it operated 955 stores in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico, an online store at www.childrensplace.com, and had 90 international stores operated by its franchise partners in 12 countries.[4]

History

[edit]
The Children's Place in Manhattan (now closed)

The company was founded in 1969. It was acquired by Federated Department Stores in 1981.[5] After Campeau Corporation acquired Federated, they sold The Children's Place to a group led by Joseph Sitt in 1988.[6] They became publicly traded on the NASDAQ exchange in 1997 under the ticker symbol PLCE.[citation needed]

The Children's Place had a location in the mall in New York's World Trade Center. This location was eventually destroyed during the September 11 attacks in 2001.[7]

Between 2004 and 2007, the company owned and operated 335 Disney Stores through a subsidiary Hoop Holdings/Hoop Retail Stores LLC.[8] Disney sold the chain for the cost of inventory to Children's Place subsidiary Hoop Holdings, plus a 15-year licensing agreement.[9][8] Mario Ciampi, senior vice president of store development and logistics, was named Hoop/Disney Store North America president. The company agreed to pump $100 million in operation upgrades and remodeling.[10] Under the licensing agreement, a "royalty holiday" period existed until October 2006 to allow revamping of the stores. The royalty thereafter was 5% of store sales, while online sales get Disney a 9% to 10% royalty. Hoop Holdings was able to write off the cost ($48 million) of the equipment and property received in the purchase.[9]

Hoops saw progress with its strategy as open stores in 2006 for 11 months saw 15% increase in sales assisted by a better Disney box office results and the Disney Channel hit High School Musical. A store website would be up and running in April 2007.[9]

In June 2007, the company began negotiations to sell the rights back to The Walt Disney Company.[8] On March 26, 2008, Hoop Holdings/Hoop Retail Stores LLC and related subsidiaries of TCP that operated Disney Store retail locations filed for bankruptcy.[8] Hoop obtained from Wells Fargo $35 million of debtor-in-possession financing and appointed Perry Mandarino of Traxi LLC, the Manhattan financial-restructuring company, as chief restructuring officer.[11] On May 1, 2008, 231 Disney Stores in North America once again became the property of Disney, operating under the Disney Consumer Products arm.[12]

On December 11, 2009, The Children's Place Retail Stores announced the appointment of former Lord & Taylor CEO Jane T. Elfers as president and chief executive officer (CEO) of the company, effective January 4, 2010.[13]

In the summer of 2013, the store withdrew a T-shirt from the stores with four options for "My best subjects" including "Shopping, Music, Dance and Math." While shopping, music, and dance were checked, math was left unchecked because the T-shirt stated "Nobody’s perfect!"[14]

A factory in the Rana Plaza building near Dhaka, Bangladesh that produced Children's Place merchandise collapsed in April 2013, killing 1,134 people.[15][16] The company then joined Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety along with other North American apparel retailers, and former U.S. Senators George Mitchell and Olympia Snowe. The Alliance's mission is a five-year plan to improve conditions in Bangladeshi garment factories.

Jane Elfers stepped down as CEO on May 21, 2024, receiving a $3.75M payout to exit the company.[17]

Operations

[edit]

Most of The Children's Place stores are located in and around regional malls, but also include some strip shopping centers, outlets, and street stores. The majority of their stores are small, traditional mall stores, although some Children's Place outlets are in a big box format.

References

[edit]

Media related to The Children's Place at Wikimedia Commons

  1. ^ Sabanoglu, Tugba (December 16, 2022). "Number of stores of The Children's Place in North America as of 2022". Statista. Retrieved September 25, 2023.
  2. ^ Vernon, Joan (February 27, 2004). "Secaucus, N.J.-Based Children's Place Seeks to Convert Browsers into Buyers". The Record. Retrieved July 16, 2008.
  3. ^ "The Children's Place, Inc. (PLCE) Company Profile & Facts - Yahoo Finance". finance.yahoo.com. Retrieved 2023-07-11.
  4. ^ "Investor Relations - Corporate Overview". corporate-ir.net. Retrieved 2016-03-04.
  5. ^ Ap (1981-10-07). "Federated Set To Buy Chain". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2018-08-26.
  6. ^ "Federated Division To Be Sold". tribunedigital-chicagotribune. Retrieved 2018-08-26.
  7. ^ https://web.archive.org/web/20010421023017/http://www.panynj.gov/wtc/wtcsfram.HTM [bare URL]
  8. ^ a b c d "Unit of Children's Place that operates Disney Stores files for bankruptcy". nj.com. 2008-03-27. Retrieved 2016-03-04.
  9. ^ a b c Menn, Joseph (23 December 2006). "New ownership turns Disney Stores around". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved December 29, 2016.
  10. ^ "Children's Place to buy US Disney Stores". The Retail Bulletin. October 20, 2004. Retrieved January 5, 2017.
  11. ^ Daniel, Robert (March 27, 2008). "Children's Place's Disney Store unit files Chapter 11". MarketWatch. Retrieved 27 November 2012.
  12. ^ Chmielewski, Dawn C. (September 6, 2011). "Head of Disney Consumer Products group steps down". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 15 November 2012.
  13. ^ Children's Place names new CEO, The Record, December 11, 2009
  14. ^ "The worst shirts for girls". 7 August 2013.
  15. ^ Hoskins, Tansy (April 23, 2015). "Reliving the Rana Plaza factory collapse: a history of cities in 50 buildings, day 22". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 May 2019.
  16. ^ "Western Firms Feel Pressure as Toll Rises in Bangladesh". The New York Times. 2013-04-25. Retrieved 2016-03-04.
  17. ^ Editor, Clark Schultz, SA News (2024-05-21). "Children's Place plunges after announcing the departure of its CEO (NASDAQ:PLCE) | Seeking Alpha". seekingalpha.com. Retrieved 2024-05-21. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
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