Marshall Field’s on State Street is hosting three to four cooking classes a week at a new 4,200-square-foot kitchen on the seventh floor.
“We’ve always done demonstrations but have never done cooking classes,” said Warren Wolfe, Field’s food services vice president.
Cooks of Crocus Hill, a Minnesota cooking school and retailer of pricey pots and pans, planned the classes, which can accommodate up to 60 people. Field’s also will carry Crocus Hill goods at 14 stores.
Last year, Field’s formed a culinary council of nine chefs, several of whom have television shows and could broadcast from Chicago.
To spread the word, the retailer is publishing Field’s Culinary Quarterly, available in stores and sent to select credit card holders.
Missing the Target: While Field’s ended the year on an upswing, the department store chain has largely been a drag on owner Target Corp.
Overall, the Minneapolis parent of three retailers posted a 2.9 percent rise in sales over the past year. Some divisions are doing better than others.
Sales at Target discount stores open at least a year rose 4.4 percent year to date. Results at Mervyn’s and Field’s, however, fell 7.6 percent and 2.6 percent, respectively.
Business did turn around in January, when Field’s sales rose by 4.3 percent. Analysts had forecast a 1.6 percent drop, according to a Thomson First Call survey.
Still, among 10 other department stores, Field’s surpassed only Kohl’s, Dillards and Stage Stores in January.
Sears snippets: Lasting 90 minutes, it was one of Sears, Roebuck and Co.’s longest conference calls with analysts. Here are some comments from the Jan. 29 call with Chief Executive Alan Lacy and Chief Financial Officer Glenn Richter regarding Sears’ quarterly results:
On 2003 profit margins:
“One of the things I’m unhappy with is how we managed margins. Part of that was the more intense promotional environment. But we clearly can execute better. We had lots of issues as we went through the year in terms of our ability to get inventory, particularly in apparel, sized properly for the pace of business.”
On clothing:
“While apparel sales were disappointing, trends improved through much of the year, especially in our core women’s ready-to-wear business. Lands’ End and our other proprietary brands, including Covington, Apostrophe and CRB, contributed.”
Covington sales surpassed $500 million its first full year.
Lands’ End sales in the 183 stores that got the line in late 2002 showed “solid comparable sales growth” in December 2003. By September 2003, Lands’ End was in all 870 stores.
“The top 200 stores are over the top, better than we ever dreamed. The bottom 200 stores–where we knew that the customer wouldn’t know the brand well and tends to be a more promotional buyer–did worse than expected.”
On home goods:
For lawn and garden, 2003 was the strongest year in memory. Excluding plumbing and heating goods, home appliance sales rose by low single digits, as did home electronics in December.
New deal: Separately, Sears said Monday it would be the exclusive seller of Jones Apparel Group Inc.’s ALine sportswear, outerwear and handbags starting in 450 stores this fall. The label, offered in sizes 6 to 16, is aimed at women going from a business casual office to a soccer game to dinner.
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