4B UFE/mt Qaciotte $ot Thursday, April 27, 2006 From Wal-Mart to Old Navy, plttrsizes-are mainstream THE ASSOCIATED PRESS KING OF PRUSSIA, Pa.- Kathy Curtis waded through a sea of colorful camisoles, gypsy skirts and lacy tees at Lane Bryant, shopping for a deal. The 45-year-old suburban Philadelphia resident can afford to be picky. As a size 20, she didn’t use to have as many choices in plus sizes. But more retailers are finally paying attention to cus tomers like her—if she does n’t Mke Lane Bryant, she can shop elsewhere. “They could do more, but things are much more stylish than they were 10 years ago—five years even,” Curtis said. Before, “they figured, give them a couple of extra- large tops and they’re happy.” As waistlines expand across America, fashionable plus- size clothes are proliferating and moving into the main stream. In some cases, plus sizes are leaving the outer fringes of the store floor to hang next to “regular-sized” clothes as the average American gets bigger. Where they remain separated, plus sizes are being displayed in specialized boutiques like petites. Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world’s largest retailer, is adding more racks of plus- size apparel in its “George,” “Metro 7” and other lines due to increased demand, said spokeswoman Linda Blakley. And the larger sizes hang right next to the smaller the same section as other “It is doing really well,” said Jime Beckstead, vice presi dent of design at Sears Holding Corp. The Kohl’s department store chain added plus sizes for its “Apt. 9” and “Daisy Fuentes” collections last ‘You can shop all the fines in one section,” Blakley said. Old Navy, a unit of Gap Inc., carries plus sizes in 250 stores nationwide, up from 55 stores nearly two years ago, said spokesman Greg Rossiter. Old Navy started offering them online in 2000. ‘We recognize that the mar ket is underserved,” he said. “The response has been very good.” Kmart, a unit of Sears Holding Corp., hired a special designer for plus sizes a year ago. Around the same time, it also introduced “attention,” a missy and plus-size clothing fine that only uses stretch fabric. Kmart said it has always displayed plus sizes in spring. Retailers who have long catered to plus sizes are get ting into their second act. This year, Liz Claiborne Inc. in New York is opening five “Elisabeth” plus-size bou tiques. The designer, which began offering plus sizes in 1990, already has 28 such stores nationwide. “Plus-size women are very veiy loyal to brands. They have a lot of spending power,” said Barry Zelman, general manager of specialty retail at Liz Claiborne. Charming Shoppes Inc. of Bensalem, Pa., announced last month that it was rolling out a chain of plus-size lin gerie stores nationwide called Cacique. The stores vtill cany sizes 12 to 28 and feature larger dressing rooms with tri-fold mirrors for viewing at different angles. The parent of Lane Bryant, Catherines and Fashion Bug already had seven Cacique stores as of mid-March and plans to open 50 stores by year’s end. Retailers are expanding into larger sizes because demand has grown: Two- thirds of American adults are either overweight or obese today compared with 46 per cent a quarter century ago, according to the American Obesity Association in Washington, D.C. Among children ages 6 to 11, about 30 percent are over weight or obese, up fourfold from 25 years ago. Nearly a third of those ages 12 to 19 are heavy, with the percent age more than doubling dur- ir^ the same period, the non profit advocacy group said. That’s why “virtually every body” is looking to cater to the plus-size market, said Kurt Barnard, president of Barnard’s Retail Consulting Group in Nutley, N.J. “That’s where the dollars are.” But it took decades for Academic seeks life’s meaning in colfeshop Continued from page 3B effect”—that is, putting a big ger emphasis on music sales, movie marketing and other non-coffee products. Simon believes Starbucks succeeds by “selling comfort” in an anonymous, often dislo cating world. He says he has lost track of the number of times people have told him that when they traveled to a strange country, “the first thing I did when I got off the plane was go to Starbucks.” “There’s a deep sense of impredictability in the mod em world, and what Starbucks provides a lot of people is predictability,” he said. However, there are regional variations. Starbucks intro duced green tea firappuccinos in Taiwan and Singapore in 2001. They proved so popular, they’re now on the U.S. menu. Simon notes one big differ ence between British Starbucks and their American counterparts. “Starbucks is dirty here,” he said, gesturing to a mess of used fids and stir sticks on a stained tabletop. “Americans People in Mississippi push to preserve store in Till case THE ASSOCIATED PRESS MONEY, Miss. - The fad ing, whitewashed brick walls of the old Bryant Grocery & Meat Market store are crawl ing with vines, and the roof has long since succumbed to the elements. It’s a significant piece of Mississippi civil rights histo ry, and it’s slowly crumbling away. The store is where black teenager Emmett Till is said to have wolf-whistled at white female shopkeeper Carolyn Bryant in August 1955. Till was kidnapped, tor tured and killed a few days later—and his mother held an _ —Bjp open-casket I funeral in af Chicago, r ^ shocking the M • Ml world by show- V ing her son’s n mutilated body. I Now, folks who want to see the rural Till store practically need a tom guide. There are no historical markers, though there might be one soon. The Mississippi Board of Archives and History is con sidering putting an explana tory sign by the store, some thing that at least would let history seekers know where to tap their brakes on the stretch of rmal Delta road about 10 miles north of Greenwood. State Sen. David Jordan, D- Greenwood, says somebody— the state or a private investor—needs to buy the dilapidated building and rehabilitate it. But so far, Jordan says the man who now owns the properly is ask ing an exorbitant price. “Everybody is concerned about this structme. Not so much the structme itself, but the history of what happened here,” Jordan said one recent sunny afternoon outside the store. 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