Bealls rebranding its two largest chains with these new names …
Bealls Inc. is undertaking a significant rebranding of its two largest chains -- a move designed to help the 100-year-old company stay relevant in the marketplace and distinguish itself from the competition.
The Florida apparel and home merchandise retailer will merge its 600 Bealls Outlet and Burkes Outlet locations under the new “bealls” moniker. The word “outlet” is being dropped to avoid misconceptions about the origin and quality of its merchandise, the retailer said in a release.
The move to change Burkes to bealls was made possible by Bealls Inc.’s 2020 purchase of the intellectual property and other assets of Stage Stores Inc. The deal included the trademarks and trade name of Stage Stores’ various banners which included Goody’s, Gordmans, Palais Royal, Peebles — and Bealls.
“Uniting Burkes Outlet and Bealls Outlet as ‘bealls’ is very appealing, and in the long-term will reduce confusion while increasing brand awareness,” explained Matt Beall, chairman and CEO. Bealls Inc. “We feel that it elevates the perception of our stores to match the quality of merchandise that exists in our stores today.”
In addition, the company will rebrand Bealls Department Store — a 68-store chain that operates exclusively in Florida — to “Bealls Florida.” The refresh aligns the stores with the company’s e-commerce business and its Live.Life.Local.” marketing campaign. It also highlights the retailer's desire to differentiate and distance itself from the traditional department store model.”
"Our update to the Bealls Florida chain will allow us to achieve our limitless potential as we continue to compete directly with larger public corporations like TJ Maxx, Marshalls and Kohl’s,” Beall added.
All stores will be rebranded with new signage by the end of the year.
Bealls’ new branding commitment comes on the heels of steady growth for the company — the century-old retailer added more than 150 store locations during the past two and a half years. This growth was during a volatile timeframe for the retail industry as annual store closures exceeded store openings.
Bealls’ growth is contributing to the retail industry’s strong comeback — as of early August 2022, U.S. retailers announced 4,432 store openings, and 1,954 store closings. This equates to a net of 2,478 openings, the largest number of openings in the past five years, according to the BDO report, "Retail in the Red: BDO Bi-Annual Bankruptcy Update.” (The report cited store opening and closing data from Coresight Research.).
Headquartered and founded in Bradenton, Fla., in 1915, Bealls Inc. is a privately held company that has been owned and operated by the founding family for over 100 years.