SIC 5641 Children's and Infants' Wear Stores

Encyclopedia of American Industries | 2005 | Copyright

SIC 5641
CHILDREN'S AND INFANTS' WEAR STORES

This category includes establishments primarily engaged in the retail sale of children's and infants' clothing, furnishings and accessories. Such establishments may specialize in either children's or infants' wear, or they may sell a combination of children's and infants' wear.

NAICS Code(s)

448130 (Children's and Infant's Clothing Stores)

Industry Snapshot

The infants' and children's wear business consists of hundreds of small independently owned shops and dozens of larger retail chains. Because many of the companies in this industry are privately owned, the exact size of the industry is difficult to determine. The U.S. Census Bureau's 2000 listing of 5,600 infants' and children's wear stores included only those with a payroll that totaled $700 million.

Children's wear, a relatively small market in the apparel industry, has traditionally lacked the fierce competitiveness of other clothing sectors. Even in children's specialty shops, apparel on average only accounts for 17 percent of floor space and 16 percent of sales (baby furniture accounts for two-thirds of space and revenues). From 1995 to 2001 space dedicated to children's apparel in malls more than doubled but still only totaled 2.7 percent. However, during the first years of the twenty-first century, more national brands began producing small-sized versions of their teen and adult lines and invested heavily in expanding their infant and children clothing brands.

Organization and Structure

This industry has traditionally been highly seasonal, as with other clothing businesses. Industry sales generally peak between late August and December. During this period, stores compete for precious back-to-school sales and holiday gift purchases. Stores typically generate between 30 and 40 percent of their annual sales in these months. With record high numbers of infants, toddlers, and children attending preschool throughout the year, clothing purchases for this segment are becoming less cyclical.

Because children's and infants' wear stores carry narrow product lines, they are classified as specialty retail stores. Traditionally, children's and infants' wear stores, and specialty stores in general, were small boutique-style operations. These "mom and pop" stores were often undercapitalized and had high overhead costs in proportion to their sales; however, they did not compete on the basis of price alone. Rather, they pursued customer satisfaction strategies, such as offering products with low turnover rates and providing more sales expertise than their competitors.

Competition. Until the mid-1980s, department stores were the main competitors of children's and infants' wear...

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