Is Jacksonville at Risk of Losing Body Central HQ's?

[Jdog]

Harris

11/05/2012
by Mark Basch, Contributing Writer

Body Central Corp. is still trying to turn its sales trends around after two very bad quarters.
But while the Jacksonville-based fashion retailer works on fixing short-term trends, it’s also looking to future growth.

During the company’s quarterly conference call Thursday, interim CEO Tom Stoltz said the company is making investments in the future with new systems.

He also revealed for the first time that Body Central is negotiating a lease for a new distribution center, a development that raises questions about the future of its headquarters offices.

Stoltz said the company is in “final stages” of negotiating a lease on a new distribution center that is targeted to open in the third quarter of 2013.

He said Body Central needs the new warehouse to accommodate its growing store network, which currently numbers 267 in 24 states, and its catalog and online sales division.

However, Stoltz didn’t say where the new warehouse will be. When an analyst asked if the company might choose a more central location than Jacksonville, like Ohio, he wouldn’t say.

“We’ve done a pretty thorough study and we can’t really tell you the answer yet, but we’ll be happy to when we make that decision,” he said.

Body Central’s current distribution center, along with its headquarters, is in a 179,000-square-foot facility on Powers Avenue on Jacksonville’s Southside. The warehouse takes up 146,000 square feet of the building.

Since the offices are attached to the current distribution center, it’s logical that the company also could move its headquarters when it opens the new center, but Stoltz is not saying.

“We have made no definitive decisions about the DC or the office other than we will need a new DC due to growth,” he said in response to an email inquiry.

In a follow-up email asking if the company is considering moving its headquarters out of Jacksonville, Stoltz responded: “We have made no decisions yet about our office plans.”

Body Central intends to operate both its current warehouse and the new distribution center concurrently for at least some transition period once the new facility opens.

“Our current lease in our existing facility does not expire until October 2016, so we have some flexibility with the transition timing and with a potential office relocation,” Stoltz said in the email.

Another complication in the decision is Body Central has not yet decided on a permanent CEO.

Stoltz, who also is chief operating officer and chief financial officer, took over as interim chief executive in August when Allen Weinstein resigned.

You would have to expect the permanent CEO will have a say in where Body Central ultimately locates its headquarters.



http://jaxdailyrecord.com/showstory.php?Story_id=537939

[TPC]

I'd hate to see Jacksonville loose any businesses but I don't see Body Central staying relevant in the fashion market unless they make some major changes. They are primarily in malls and are competing against giants like Zara, H&M and Forever 21.

I don't know a whole lot about women's fashion but none of the females I know even shop there.

[CityLife]

TPC, I know someone who left a pretty good job with a very successful Jax company to work at HQ at Body Central and they did so because the company is (or at least was) supposedly doing quite well and had aggressive expansion plans. I don't know exactly why they are doing well, but I'd guess for the same reasons that Wal-Mart, Dollar General, etc are doing well.

[CityLife]

Just talked to the person I know there and they said HQ is staying in Jax, but will probably relocate to a different location in Jax in early 2014.