MILWAUKEE — Woolworth Corp. expects to open 470 specialty stores this year and next year will introduce its Canadian-based Northern Traditions, a classic women’s apparel chain, to the U.S., according to William K. Lavin, vice chairman and chief executive officer.
Lavin spoke at Woolworth’s annual meeting in the Pabst Theater here Thursday.
For the most part, the meeting was upbeat, with only one stockholder challenging management for last year’s accounting irregularities that resulted in the election of a new chairman and resignation of the senior vice president and chief financial officer.
John W. Adams, the new chairman and head of a special directors’ committee investigating the financial problems, said a report issued May 18 by the committee concluded senior corporate management created an environment that permitted accounting errors to occur, although it found no evidence that officers or employees personally benefited from the accounting errors. He added that changes have been put in place to make it unlikely that figures will be shifted from one financial period to another. At the end of January, Woolworth operated 7,406 specialty stores and 962 general merchandise and drugstores.
Lavin said expansion outside the U.S. is a major goal, particularly for Foot Locker. Over half of the 93 Foot Locker stores opened in 1993 were outside the U.S. — 41 in Europe, five each in Mexico and Australia and the first in Hong Kong. Another 50 Foot Lockers will open outside the U.S. this year, including nine in Asia and possibly some in Central and South America, Lavin said. Foot Locker is also likely to open stores in China in 1995.
The women’s accessory chains — After Thoughts, Carimar, Accessory Lady, Rubin and Reflexions — are also being expanded outside the U.S.