Cape Town - Listed clothing retailer Foschini is giving its Markhams men's clothing stores a facelift. This forms part of the revamp of most store formats in the group.
The makeover of Markhams includes a new store appearance and changes to the logo. Foschini has also dropped the "s" from the name, which will eventually see all stores in the division trade as Markham.
Ronnie Stein, Foschini's financial director, said the new store concept was part of the current financial year's total capital spending of about R185 million, of which R12 million had been set aside for Markham.
Group capital expenditure for the past three years has been between R150 million and R160 million a year.
Stein said the aim of the facelift was to draw customers who did not normally shop at Markham to gain market share.
The first new-look Markham test store opened in the Tygervalley shopping centre just outside Cape Town in the first week of October.
The plan was to replicate the new design concept in all the major stores in the next 12 months.
Although the smaller outlets in the Markham stable would eventually be remodelled, Stein said the revamp would not be as extensive as in the major stores.
Stein said the new look was very well received.
It was too soon to say, however, that it had affected sales..
There are 1 194 stores in the Foschini group, of which 172 are Markham outlets.
Foschini shares were unchanged on the JSE Securities Exchange yesterday to end the day at R28.50.
The general retailers sector gained 0.4 percent.