Store Hours Renys Map Columbia Carhartt Woolrich Sale Items! Just In F.A.Q. Jobs at Renys In the News		RENY'S: GOING SOFT September 1, 2004 RENY'S Newcastle, Maine OWNERS: ROBERT AND JOHN RENY KEY STRATEGY: Shrewd positioning into soft goods and away from Wal-Mart ANNUAL REVENUE: $45 million ANNUAL GROWTH RATE: 6% TOP RIVAL: Wal-Mart We were scared," admits Robert Reny, 50, referring to the time Wal-Mart first ventured into Maine. Along with his brother, John, 52, Robert runs Reny's, a 450-employee chain of 14 department stores founded by their father, Robert Sr., 78, in 1949. From their headquarters in Newcastle, the siblings together studied Wal-Mart's positioning and tactics and shopped its stores, looking for ways to differentiate themselves from the retailing giant. At the time about ten years ago the Renys concluded that Wal-Mart had a lock on "hard" goods, but that it was vulnerable in "soft" goods (clothing and shoes), which now account for roughly half of the Reny's chain's $45 million in annual sales. "In clothing Wal-Mart sells whatever is inexpensive," notes John Reny. By upgrading Reny's clothing mix, the brothers aimed to maneuver around the giant retailer. Their two-pronged strategy relied heavily on their company's nimbleness. First, they emphasized higher-quality brands, such as Columbia, Timberland, and Woolrich, at still-reasonable prices. While once a top seller of Dickies clothing, Reny's has now become one of Maine's largest carriers of Carhartt workwear, a higher-end brand and one not carried by Wal-Mart. Still, they remained sensitive to price. "We try to be a little bit below the market and accept a little less margin," John notes. At the same time, the brothers gobbled up small lots of closeouts, irregulars, seconds, and production overruns from those same better-quality, name-brand apparel makers and aggressively marked down the prices. They knew that Wal-Mart, dealing with much larger volumes and uniform merchandise, simply could not engage in such guerrilla retailing. Last year Reny's scooped up and sold 30,000 pairs of fleece-lined jeans and 5,000 children's winter jackets, selling each item at $20. Bought directly from the factory, the items came via production overruns from a competing retailer that was selling the jeans at $40 and the jackets at $60. The strategy has paid off. The first year after Wal-Mart's arrival, Reny's annual growth dropped from 8% to zero. But it edged up to 3% the next year, and since then it has doubled to 6%. Despite Wal-Mart, Reny's has remained profitable. It recently completed a 90,000-square-foot office, warehouse, and distribution complex to better compete with who else? Wal-Mart. --ED WELLES Excerpt From: Fourtune Small Business, September, 2004 Web Specials  ||  Feature Brands  ||  Contact Renys  ||  Our Locations  ||  Job Opportunities Gift Cards  ||  History  ||  In the News  ||  Just In  ||  Email Signup  ||  Site Map  ||  Home Page R.H. Reny, Inc. 731 Route 1 Newcastle, Maine 04553 Phone: (207)563-3177 Fax: (207)563-5681 E-Mail: feedback@renys.com