Retailer to Rival Clothestime

When the first Styles for Less stores open Thursday in Lake Forest and Santa Monica, the similarities to Clothestime will be purely intentional.

Like Clothestime, Styles for Less Inc. will offer off-price women’s apparel in stores usually located in less pricey strip centers. Targeting women of ages 18 to 34, the company hopes to generate sales of $200 to $250 per square foot--like Clothestime--and has its headquarters in the same city: Anaheim.

No wonder. Styles for Less is the brainchild of former Clothestime Chairman and Chief Executive Michael DeAngelo, who has brought several former Clothestime executives with him to start the rival retailer.

His brother, Raymond, remains as vice chairman and chief executive of Clothestime Inc.

Michael DeAngelo downplays the degree to which his new store is an imitation. Clothestime, he said, manufactures a lot of its merchandise, while Styles for Less will sell more name brands. Styles for Less will carry career wear; Clothestime doesn’t.

“They’re doing their thing, and we’re doing ours,” DeAngelo said.

Clothestime officials are taking the challenge seriously.

“We are going to compete against them just like anybody else, and that’s all that counts,” said David Sejpal, Clothestime’s chief financial officer.

Styles for Less, which plans to reduce prices on women’s wear from 30% to 80% over department stores, has a plan for fast-track growth much like Clothestime’s. The two stores opening this week will be followed by stores in Huntington Beach, Montclair and Pasadena. DeAngelo said he hopes to open five stores by the end of the year and another 20 or so next year. “We have plans for a couple hundred stores in several years,” he said.

If Clothestime is indeed the model, Styles for Less chose to adopt one of the hottest concepts to emerge during the recession. In the latest quarter, Clothestime reported $3.3 million in earnings, a 50% leap over the same quarter the year before. The 446-store chain plans to add another 100 stores by the end of 1993. Analysts credit Clothestime with having one of the strongest balance sheets in retailing.

“We think we have a significant market share out there,” Sejpal said, and Styles for Less would need a long time to catch up.