We've grown about 10 percent each year and plan to continue that. But when good opportunities like this come up, we like to be able to take them. The company employs about 1,400. Barstein adds that the company will close five unprofitable stores around the chain. The average store size is 2,800-3,000 square feet.
Locations vary from strip centers to downtown storefronts and urban malls.
Typically, the markets have populations of 50,000 or more and have an ethnically diverse mix. The company is a family affair. Rodney's brother, Mark, is executive vice president and general merchandising manager. While Simply Fashions was started in 1991, the siblings are hardly newcomers to retailing. Their father, Mervyn Barstein, started the Bargaintown discount stores in 1957.