Lillian Vernon to Remain at Company Following Acquisition
By CHRISTINA OCCHIPINTI:: June 5, 2006

White Plains-based Lillian Vernon Corp., made popular by its online and catalog shopping, has been acquired by LV Catalog Holding Corp., an affiliate of Sun Capital Partners Inc., a private investment firm in Boca Raton, Fla. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Founder Lillian Vernon will remain at the company as a non-executive chairperson.

Gary M. Talarico, managing director of Sun Capital Partners, said in a press release the company is working toward increasing Lillian Vernon's print and online business.

“We are excited about the acquisition of Lillian Vernon, one of the most powerful household names in direct marketing. According to a recent Opinion Research poll, more than 47 million Americans are familiar with the Lillian Vernon name. We look forward to assisting management in their continued efforts to expand Lillian Vernon's business by leveraging the strength of this terrific brand and the breadth of its distribution, both in print and online.”

Founded in 1951, Lillian Vernon is known for its holiday décor, fashion accessories, gifts, and household and children's products. It mails more than 100 million copies of its six catalogs each year. This is the second time the retailer has changed hands. In 2003, it was acquired by Direct Holdings Worldwide Inc., a diversified direct marketing holding company.

Hopping on the Apple bandwagon?

After selling their products over the Internet and telephone, Dell has finally decided to experiment human interaction in the form of a storefront.

Venancio Figueroa, spokesman for Dell, said the company announced they will be opening a store at the Palisades Center in West Nyack during the year. They are also planning a store in Dallas, Texas, which will open this summer.

Dell products, such as desktop PC's and notebook computers, big-screen televisions and printers, will be displayed throughout the store, but unlike their competitors, such as Apple, the store will not carry inventory. Customers will order their desired products at the store, but they won't be able to leave with them. Instead, their purchases will be delivered to their home, as if they had placed the order online or over the telephone.

Figueroa said Dell's decision to open a storefront was drien by their desire to present more of their products.

“It really comes down to have more space to show more dell products to more dell customers. We have kiosks in malls, but going to a bigger space allows us to showcase our full product portfolios. We will have moved from a 120-square-foot footprint to roughly 3,000 square feet.

Figueroa said Dell chose the Palisades Center for one of their stores because of the high level of foot traffic, the demographic of its shoppers and the high performance of Dell kiosks in the region.  

Figueroa said the new Dell stores will differ from other technology stores, such as Apple, because “we're trying to paint the picture of technology in the home.”

“Not only are we going to display host of products, but we're going to try to depict real home based scenarios. We want to give them a sense of how technology can be used in the home because technology has changed over the years.