The Talbots, Inc. Announces Closing of Massachusetts Call Center; Company's Call Centers in Knoxville Tennessee, and Tilton, Ne
August 14 2006 - 4:30PM
Business Wire
The Talbots, Inc. (NYSE: TLB) today announced the closing of its
call center in Hingham, Massachusetts, as part of its
organizational restructuring process resulting from the Company's
acquisition of The J. Jill Group, Inc. The Hingham center is one of
three call centers operated by the Company following its May 2006
acquisition of J. Jill. The Company's two other call centers in
Knoxville, Tennessee, and Tilton, New Hampshire, will continue to
handle all customer calls for the Talbots and J. Jill brands. The
action will result in the reduction of 150 positions in Hingham in
the areas of Talbots catalog sales and service, including 59
part-time and 91 full-time positions. All positions in the call
center's Corporate Customer Service and Direct Marketing
Information Systems areas will remain in the Company's Hingham
headquarters. Arnold B. Zetcher, Talbots Chairman, President and
Chief Executive Officer, commented, "The decision to close our
Hingham call center was difficult but necessary to streamline our
operations as part of our integration process with J. Jill and also
with increasing numbers of customers choosing to shop directly from
our website. We have taken the appropriate measures to facilitate
the transition for the affected associates, including providing
severance and outplacement services." "With this move, we have
completed the anticipated organizational restructuring process
directly resulting from our acquisition of J. Jill. Our focus now
is on continuing to capture the synergy opportunities between our
two businesses as well as on implementing the strategies that will
accelerate our growth and strengthen our position as a leading
apparel destination for the age 35-plus customer," Mr. Zetcher
concluded. Talbots opened a call center operation in Knoxville,
Tennessee, in 1988 and moved into a new, state-of-the art facility
in February 2004. Currently, approximately 300 Talbots associates
are employed at the Knoxville facility. J. Jill opened a combined
state-of-the art call center and distribution center in Tilton, New
Hampshire, in 1998, and employs approximately 120 associates within
the call center. The Talbots, Inc. is a leading international
specialty retailer and cataloger of women's, children's and men's
apparel, shoes and accessories. The Company currently operates a
total of 1,300 stores in 47 states, the District of Columbia,
Canada and the U.K., with 1,090 stores under the Talbots brand name
and 210 stores under the J. Jill brand name. The foregoing may
contain forward-looking information within the meaning of The
Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements
may be identified by such forward-looking terminology as "expect,"
"look," "believe," "anticipate," "outlook," "will," "would," "would
yield," or similar statements or variations of such terms. All of
the "outlook" information (including future revenues, future
comparable sales, future earnings, future EPS, and other future
financial performance or operating measures) constitutes
forward-looking information. Our forward-looking statements involve
substantial known and unknown risks and uncertainties as to future
events which may or may not occur, including the risk that the J.
Jill business will not be successfully integrated, the risk that
the cost savings and other synergies from the transaction may not
be fully realized or may take longer to realize than expected, the
risk that the acquisition will disrupt Talbots or J. Jill's core
business, transaction and integration costs, the reaction of
Talbots and J. Jill customers and suppliers to the transaction,
diversion of management time on merger-related issues,
effectiveness of the Company's brand awareness and marketing
programs, any different or any increased negative trends in its
regular-price or markdown selling, effectiveness of its Internet
site, acceptance of the Company's fashions including the Company's
2006 spring and summer fashions, the Company's ability to
anticipate and successfully respond to changing customer tastes and
preferences and to produce the appropriate balance of merchandise
offerings, the Company's ability to sell its merchandise at regular
prices as well as its ability to successfully execute its major
sale events including the timing and levels of markdowns and
appropriate balance of available markdown inventory, any difference
between estimated and actual stock option expense, and retail
economic conditions including consumer spending, In each case,
actual results may differ materially from such forward-looking
information. Certain other factors that may cause actual results to
differ from such forward-looking statements are included in the
Company's Form 10-K (under "Risk Factors") and in other periodic
reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission and
available on the Talbots website under "Investor Relations" and you
are urged to carefully consider all such factors.
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