"Years ago, kids was a fairly sizable business,” said Stein Mart President MaryAnne Morin in announcing Monday that the Jacksonville-based fashion retailer is once again featuring clothing and toys for kids.
Called Stein Mart Kids, the new section in most Stein Mart stores features apparel for babies, girls sizes 2-16 and boys sizes 2-20, as well as shoes and toys.
An accompanying webpage for the new line has also been launched.
Like many brick-and-mortar retailers, Stein Mart has been struggling. The retailer posted a net loss of $2.1 million for the second quarter of 2019, according to the fiscal results it released last month.
For the first six months of 2019, net sales at Stein Mart decreased 4.9% to $606.5 million.
In addition to its kids initiative, Stein Mart is launching a buy online, pick up in store service and plans to debut a fine jewelry product line by October.
“With our fall sales-driving initiatives beginning to roll out this month, we believe our comp sales trend will improve in the second half,” said Stein Mart Chief Executive Officer Hunt Hawkins in the company’s second quarter report.
Stein Mart was founded in 1908 by Sam Stein in Greenville, Mississippi. Today it’s headquartered on Jacksonville’s Southbank and has nearly 300 stores in 31 states.
Bill Bortzfield can be reached at bbortzfield@wjct.org, 904-358-6349 or on Twitter at @BortzInJax.
