Lululemon Athletica Inc. plans to open standalone men’s stores by 2016, said CEO Christine Day at a presentation at a William Blair & Co. conference in Chicago. Her comments followed an announcement earlier this week that she’s retiring from the Vancouver-based company once the board finds a successor.
Lululemon’s clothing for men include golf polos for $98 and underwear for $48. Day said one polo top sold out in less than 48 hours online. Men’s apparel accounts for a “mid- to high-teen” percentage of the company’s sales mix, according to reports.
Men’s same-store sales have been higher than the rest of the business “in general,” John Currie, chief financial officer, said on Lululemon’s earnings conference call June 10. He didn’t provide specific figures.
Since Lululemon said Day was leaving, the shares have plunged. While they rose 3.8 percent to $66.75 at 2:26 p.m. in New York, they had fallen 16 percent this year through yesterday, compared with a 13 percent rise in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index.
