Five Below taps Forever 21 leader as CEO; Q3 sales rise 14.7%, income drops
Five Below has ended its search for a chief executive.
The extreme-value retailer for tweens and teens named Winnie Park as CEO and a member of its board, effective Dec. 16. She replaces company veteran Kenneth Bull, who was named interim CEO following the abrupt departure of Joel Anderson in July. (Anderson was subsequently named CEO of Petco.)
In her new role, Park will partner closely with Bull, who will continue as Five Below’s COO. In addition, Thomas Vellios, co-founder of Five Below, will continue as executive chairman.
Most recently, Park was with Forever 21, where she has served as CEO since January 2022, leading a transformational brand refresh for the fast-fashion company focused on younger consumers with a social-media-first approach to engaging with customers, noted Five Below. Under her leadership, the brand launched its omnichannel capabilities, social commerce and a metaverse partnership with Roblox. She also expanded Forever 21’s categories beyond women’s apparel to include kid’s, gift, beauty and accessories.
Prior to Forever 21, Park was the CEO of Paper Source, where she drove the business from a traditional brick-and-mortar retailer to an omnichannel lifestyle brand. Before that, she served as executive VP, global marketing and e-commerce, and global VP, GMM, merchandising, at Hong Kong-based international retail leader Duty Free Shoppers, a division of LVMH. Park has also led women’s merchandising for Dockers at Levi Strauss & Co.
“Winnie is a passionate retail visionary with a deep understanding of the consumer and the power at the intersection of trend and value,” Vellios said. “The breadth of her leadership experience, especially her merchandising expertise, customer acumen, strong global background, and importantly, how she values people and champions organizational culture all make her uniquely suited for the role. Combined with Ken’s expertise and deep knowledge of our business, I’m confident that together we will unlock tremendous potential for our customers and shareholders by delivering amazing product at exceptional value in a fun store experience.”
Third-quarter
Five Below announced Park’s appointment along with its third-quarter earnings. Net sales rose 14.7% to $843.7 million over the year-ago period. Net income dropped to $1.7 million. from $14.6 million. The retailer opened a record 82 stores during the quarter.
“We delivered stronger performance across a broader group of our merchandise worlds compared to the second quarter and improved our operational execution,” said Bull. “We were encouraged to see the positive results from the initiatives we undertook to add newness and deliver value in key categories. We opened a record 82 new stores during this period with new store performance also surpassing our expectations."
Five Below ended the quarter with 1,749 stores in 44 states.
