Marquee Brands is planning to open Ben Sherman, Body Glove, BCBG Max Azaria and Bruno Magli popup stores as it seeks to extend the brands, COO Cory Baker tells us.

Each of the 2,500-sq.-ft. stores will be open for a minimum of four months and be a combination of a retail store and event space and feature displays that trace the history of the brand, says Baker. About 60% of the merchandise in the stores will be from licensees, while the remainder is designed and sourced by Marquee.

Marquee will open a BCBG Max Azaria store in the Soho section of New York this fall, a short distance from a new Ben Sherman location. Marquee acquired the BCBG Max Azaria IP out of bankruptcy last year, including the BCBGMaxAzaria BCBGeneration and Herve Leger brands, the latter of which was later sold to Authentic Brands Group. Global Brands Group (GBG) bought the BCBG Max Azaria operations, consisting largely of its retail stores. GBG, which is a BCBG Max Azaria sportswear licensee, continues to operate 42 stores and will expand the number of wholesale locations to 300 (up from 275) by year-end in such department stores as Bloomingdale’s, Macy’s and Lord & Taylor. At the time of its bankruptcy, BCBG had 120 standalone locations.

Meanwhile, Ben Sherman, which has 52 non-U.S. stores, will open this fall in New York, its first U.S. location since being acquired by Marquee in 2015 (It previously had three U.S. stores including a 5,000-sq.-ft. flagship in Soho and one each in Los Angeles and San Francisco). Marquee also is scouting Los Angeles for a Body Glove store as it seeks to expand from a base of 200 locations in Asia. Marquee also plans to open a Bruno Magli store by year-end.

“This is one of the few times a licensor has taken up owning and managing concept stores that are more than a marketing initiative and combines retail with consumer engagement,” says Baker.

Contact:

Marquee Brands, Cory Baker, Chief Operating Officer, 646-661-7780, cbaker@marqueebrands.com