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Luxury retailers emphasize off-price operations

September 25, 2008

Business Week: With the economy stalled and consumer spending in free fall, snobbery is a bit harder to pull off than in years past. Even the most upscale shoppers are hunting for bargains. So luxury retail executives are taking their off-price operations out of the shadows and launching their most aggressive expansion plans in years. Increasingly, the outlets also are offering not just discontinued or leftover inventory from a previous season, but many items currently available at the mainline stores.

"Only stores that scream value are getting consumers in," says Erin Armendinger, managing director of the Jay H. Baker Retailing Initiative at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

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