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COVER STORY
whwytriright 31 Overstock Avenue
New Identity Booming Business
Aft er operating as Madison Avenue Close-
in a Recession?
outs for the past seven years, the company
In a year when many companies are post-
has decided to rebrand themselves under
ing losses, Overstock Avenue has seen
the name, Overstock Avenue. Why the
their business continue to grow. “Well,
name change? Sperow cites several rea-
I will say that it has not been easy,” says
sons. “We decided to drop the ‘closeouts’
Sperow. “Th is economy is keeping us on
part, since it really didn’t describe the bulk
our toes, and I think we’re all working
of our inventory. Most of what we carry
harder than ever. But we are growing and
now could be bett er described as
hearing a lot of success stories from
overstock or shelf pulls, as opposed
customers, and that’s very satisfy-
to actual closeout merchandise.
We’re always ing.” Sperow cites the company’s
We dropped the “Madison Ave-
ability to adapt to change as a key
nue” part for a couple of reasons. It tweaking, adapting,
to their success. “Th is industry is
was originally meant to convey that
and doing what constantly changing,” she says. “You
we carried more upscale, high end
can never get too comfortable and
products. While we will absolutely we can to meet
just assume that you can do things
continue to do that, we will also be
the needs of our the same way you did last year. We’re
broadening our mix to include more
always tweaking and adapting, and
budget friendly off erings. We also customers.”
doing what we should do to meet
had a lot of customers who thought
Lisa Sperow,
the needs of our customers.”
we were in New York, so this will Founder & President
Th e customers that Overstock
probably lead to less confusion. We
Avenue works with are also chang-
worked with an agency that helped
ing. Katie Glodowski, sales manager,
in the naming process, and we are very happy with the new
says the company has seen changes in their customer base,
name. Keeping the ‘Avenue’ in there gives us some continuity,
in response to the current economy. “We’ve gained a lot of
and the new name is really a bett er fi t for us,” says Sperow.
customers in the past year who were actually not previously
buying off -price,” she says. “Th ey have realized that despite
the economy, their end consumers are still continuing to
shop and purchase new clothing, but they’re just more bar-
gain conscious than ever. To continue to earn their business,
retailers have to fi nd ways to continue to bring in great mer-
chandise, but at lower prices. Th e neat thing is that these new
customers are so pleased with the quality and value of the
clothing they’re gett ing from us, they say they will continue
to incorporate off -price off erings into their mix, even aft er
the economy recovers,” Glodowski says.
Changing with the Times
As retailers are being forced to reevaluate their product off er-
ings, wholesalers need to be able to adjust their products
and services to follow suit. Th e team at Overstock Avenue
Continued On 34 whwytriright
32 August 2009
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