Dressbarn History

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The Company Description of Its Time

The Dress Barn filing is headed by the end of the story - which is how the directory presents the company. May 2019: Dressbarn is closing all stores. The farewell notice is quoted in part, and its substance is kept here: for more than 50 years, Dressbarn had been proud to be its customers' go-to fashion destination, providing a great selection at tremendous value, for working women and mothers on the go, for everyday needs and most special occasions; expressing the team's deepest gratitude for customers' loyalty, it announced that the decision had been made to begin winding down the Dressbarn business, which meant eventually closing all of its stores. Below that notice, everything that follows is marked as historical reference.

Scale in 2009 and the Tween Brands Merger

The dated scale figures anchor the middle of the record: as of April 25, 2009, the Company operated 842 dressbarn stores in 47 states and 707 maurices stores in 44 states. Maurices itself carries an older founding than its parent: what started in 1931 as a small women's fashion shop in Duluth, Minnesota, founded by E. Maurice Labovitz, grew to over 700 stores in 43 states, described as the leading small town specialty store for the savvy, fashion conscious customer with a twenty-something attitude; its home office remains in Duluth, the site of its first store, as recorded. In June 2009 it was announced that Dress Barn and Tween Brands would merge - Tween Brands bringing the Limited Too and Justice stores, filed in this directory under Justice in the J letter and cross-linked from this page.

The merger terms are taken from the June 25, 2009 press release: each share of Tween Brands common stock would be exchanged for 0.47 shares of Dress Barn common stock - equivalent to $6.22 per Tween share at Dress Barn's $13.24 price of June 24, 2009, an aggregate equity value of approximately $157 million, a premium of 20 percent over Tween's closing price, with Tween stockholders expected to own approximately 16 percent of the combined company's diluted shares and Tween's bank debt to be repaid. The transaction, unanimously approved by both boards, was expected to close in the fourth quarter of calendar 2009. Its corporate consequence is the filing's key date: Ascena Retail Group, Inc. was created as a public company effective January 1, 2011 - a leading national specialty retailer of apparel for women and tween girls operating the dressbarn, maurices and Justice brands through approximately 2,500 stores in the United States and Canada, with revenues of approximately $2.9 billion. The Ascena filing in the A letter carries the parent record from there, and is in this page(?:'|')s routes.

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