Casual Male Retail Group CEO Interview: David Levin

• On 1:25 pm EDT, Tuesday September 8, 2009

67 WALL STREET, New York - September 8, 2009 - The Wall Street Transcript has just published its Specialty Retail Report offering a timely review of the sector to serious investors and industry executives. This 57 page feature contains expert industry commentary through in-depth interviews with public company CEOs, Equity Analysts and Money Managers. The full issue is available by calling (212) 952-7433 or via The Wall Street Transcript Online.

Topics covered: Consumer Electronics -- Innovation -- Appliance Category -- Housing Market -- Video Games -- Growth of Amazon -- International Growth -- Positives of the Downturn -- Cross-Shopping -- Buying Trends -- Competition in Specialty Retailing -- Department Stores -- Balance in Merchandise -- Underselling -- Promotions -- Informed Customers -- Internet Stores -- Change in the Consumer -- Top-Line Expansion -- Lower Cost Structure -- Teen Consumers -- Back to School -- Stablization -- Consumer Spending Trends -- Shifts in Consumer Shopping Habits -- Comparable Store Sales -- Holiday Expectations -- Retailers Reaction to Shifts in the Economy -- Value

Companies include: Amazon (AMZN); Best Buy (BBY); hhgregg (HHG); Conn's (CONN); GameStop (GME); Staples (SPLS); OfficeMax (OMX); Office Depot (ODP); Abercrombie & Fitch (ANF); AnnTaylor Stores (ANN); American Eagle Outfitters (AEO); Buckle (BKE); Chico's FAS (CHS); Bebe Stores (BEBE); Ann Taylor (ANN); Coach (COH); Coldwater Creek (CWTR); Nordstrom (JWN); Dick's Sporting Goods (DKS); Foot Locker (FL); Steve Madden (SHOO); Skechers (SKX); Deckers (DECK); Hibbett's (HIBB); Shoe Carnival (SCVL); Target (TGT); Genesco (GCO); Urban Outfitters Inc. (URBN); True Religion Apparel Inc. (TRLG); GUESS? Inc. (GES); Lululemon (LULU); J.Crew (JCG); Hot Topic, (HOTT); Talbots (TLB); Chico's (CHS); Pacific Sunwear (PSUN); Kohl's (KSS); JCPenney (JCP); BJ's Wholesale (BJ); GUESS? (GES); Tween Brands (TWB); Gymboree (GYMB); Men's Wearhouse (MW)

In the following brief excerpt from the 57 page report, David Levin, CEO of Casual Male Retail Group, discusses the company and the outlook for the sector and for investors.

TWST: Would you begin with a brief historical sketch of the company and an idea of the things you are doing at the present time?

Mr. Levin: The company has been in specialized big and tall for over 30 years. We acquired the company in May of 2002 at a bankruptcy auction. We spent the first several years in a turnaround situation. We had to go from soup-to-nuts in terms of correcting the company. Stores were in disarray, the inventory wasn't balanced right. It was really everything, we had no infrastructure or systems, and we couldn't manage the sizes. That took us several years to straighten out and now we are pretty much where we want to be.

TWST: How would you describe the outlook for the industry and for your company in particular right now? These are difficult or at least interesting times.

Mr. Levin: I think it's interesting. I think we were at the front of the curve when things started to deteriorate from a retail point of view. It's anecdotal, but I think the first one to cut back on their shopping is the male, then the female and last of all the kids. So we felt it coming earlier, and that did allow us to make adjustments to get ourselves hunkered down, as we call it, to prepare ourselves for an economic downturn. It came, and now it has been stabilized - we like to use that word now. We didn't know where the bottom was, but we think we did hit the bottom in the last six months. Things don't seem to be getting any worse, but they are not getting a whole lot better.

TWST: You are obviously in a specialized area of the market. What is the competitive landscape like and what do you see as your competitive advantages?

Mr. Levin: I think that's the biggest advantage Casual Male has. We have close to 500 stores. We do about $100 million in direct business, including catalog and Internet. In terms of specialty big and tall, our next largest competitor has five stores. I don't think there is another sector that has as much dominance as we do. It is interesting - it used to be, if you were one, two or three in your category, you were okay. And now if you are not number one - if you look at Circuit City, if you look at Linens On Things - it is not even safe to be number two anymore.

TWST: You've said before that CMRG serves all income levels, which makes it a good barometer for the economy. What's your business telling you now about this state of the economy?

Mr. Levin: We are a good barometer because we have a high-end luxury chain, Rochester Big & Tall; we have our Casual Male stores, which are on the moderate end; and we also have 65 outlet stores. What we are seeing is that the outlet stores are performing extremely well. There's about 10-point differential in comp sales in our outlets versus our full-price stores. On the other end of the spectrum, Rochester has had the most problems, on the luxury end. I think that's where the biggest problems are. If you look at Saks and Neiman's and Nordstrom, the comps there have all been quite challenging. What's the bottom line? People are trading down. We can see it happening on a daily basis. It is good for us because we are not losing any market share to anybody else. We're seeing people looking for more value and better pricing, and we've made adjustments accordingly to rebalance our inventories, to have more opening price points.

The Wall Street Transcript is a unique service for investors and industry researchers - providing fresh commentary and insight through verbatim interviews with CEOs and research analysts. This 57 page special issue is available by calling (212) 952-7433 or via The Wall Street Transcript Online .

The Wall Street Transcript does not endorse the views of any interviewees nor does it make stock recommendations.

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