Men's Clothing Retailer

BUSINESS PLAN

VAN SCHAACK

58500 Marina Way
Santa Barbara, CA 96100

Business owners' of this plan provide interested plan readers with two financial five year plans, the first being the most conservative. Owners demonstrate that the business can manage its expenses on a modest sales plan through the first set of financials.

• the van schaack principle
• the customer
• the store
• competition and strategy
• marketing, advertising and store identity
• store design
• store locations
• general and administrative
• team van schaack
• investors questions
• financial information

VAN SCHAACK PRINCIPLE

Herringbone was once the model of the ideal better men's store. With their tweed jackets and boxy suits, they embraced the Edwardian formality and unbending adherence to custom that ruled a man's wardrobe. Gentlemen (or those who aspired to be) of that era emulated this image. To them it was successful, masculine, tasteful, and presented them as they wished to be perceived by the world they lived in.

Besides the fashion statements they made, Herringbone's success was also attributable to an important principle. They sold quality merchandise at a fair and reasonable price—an even exchange of value for value. Their genteel image enhanced the value of their merchandise, and made Herringbone a reliable, trusted institution.

What do the young men of the emerging Generation X think of Herringbone today?

Answer: They don't think of it.

Men today value self-expression, individualism, and freedom; they choose to make their own identities rather than fit themselves into an idealized mold. There is no value for them in the confinement of an antique Edwardian aesthetic, unchanging decade after decade.

There are few fashion rules for men today. But the principle of providing value for value remains as sound as it was in former years. If a men's store is to be trusted and successful, it must, like Herringbone, be based on that sound principle. Van Schaack is committed to do exactly that.

The generation of men who grew up with MTV is a powerful market with growing incomes. They will determine the future of many image-conscious retailers and their marketing strategies. As always in the competitive world of retail, you must change with the times or be replaced.

As for replacing obsolete concepts in the world of men's stores, Van Schaack is poised and ready.

THE CUSTOMER

Van Schaack is a store concept designed for and catering to a core customer base of active, urban males aged 25 to 50.

The targeted market is image conscious and wants fashionable clothing that has a youthful, sexy, and masculine image. The core customer will most likely work out at a gym on a regular basis. This has given him a well-toned build, which he will want to show to its best advantage. Outside of work, he has an active, casual lifestyle of sports, the beach, the gym, bars and clubs and excursions with friends. He wants clothes that are versatile, attractive and becoming.

THE STORE

As a store, Van Schaack's objective is to respond to the needs and wants of its core customers.

Our cues are taken from other successful, sexy, men's clothing operations such as Men Tour and Mike Kaplan. We borrow the best of these organizations: the customer lifestyle focus of Men Tour and the sophisticated marketing of Mike Kaplan. However, Men Tour's strength lies in its catalog operation, and Men Tour is a designer/vendor. Van Schaack's emphasis will be on retail stores.

Our five year business plan is the blueprint for our expansion to a multi-unit operation in urban areas where our core customers are concentrated. We will grow our business selling a mix of moderate to better sportswear, active wear, and underwear-along with grooming cosmetics - in a casual, open and sophisticated environment.

COMPETITION & STRATEGY

Primary competition for Van Schaack will be Men Tour. To a lesser degree, competition will also come from moderate price sportswear specialty stores such as Runway and moderate price department stores like Bachman, Crystal, Wolfgang, and Paolo.

The Van Schaack approach will be different from this point forward, in that, it will provide sport merchandise that is clean and classic, simple but sexy. The colors and styling will be more masculine, avoiding the cheap and flashy. The look will be more like Mike Kaplan, less like Men Tour. We believe this more masculine approach in merchandising will have a broader appeal and attract a more affluent customer. In addition, we will offer clothes that emphasize better quality and fit, elements that are conspicuously lacking in our main competitors' assortments.

Another category that will be developed beyond any men's store competitor will be grooming cosmetics. As one of the highlights of the merchandise strategy at Van Schaack, we will offer an expansive selection of products in this department. Currently, no retailer offers anything approaching this concept. Cosmetic departments in large stores are all consistently aimed at women customers. Some lines, such as Blusher, and Silken, sell product lines designed for men. However, these are not featured, and they are overshadowed by women's cosmetics.

The emphasis in Van Schaack's cosmetic lines will be on better quality skin care (particularly anti-aging products), sun products, hair care, and bath and body products - not on fragrance. This department will most likely be called New Leaf. The anticipated success of New Leaf is based on the premises that male customers prefer buying cosmetics in a store where everything is geared toward men, and that our core customer will strongly respond to a department specifically aimed at helping him look attractive, healthy, and youthful.

Because Van Schaack's focus will be on retail stores, we expect to out do our main competitors in the important arena of shopping environment. We are planning an interior similar to that found in an upscale specialty store, with outstanding wall presentation, consistent fixturing and special tables designed to show strong merchandise stories. The overall design objective is to create an upbeat environment that is easy to shop and shows the goods to their best advantage.

MARKETING, ADVERTISING AND STORE IDENTITY

The marketing of Van Schaack is the vehicle by which we will communicate our image to our customers. The projected image is that of a masculine, bare-all Adonis whose rugged individualism appeals to young men and men who want to feel young. Outfitting the male who identifies with this image (or aspires to emulate it) will be the store's mission - and will provide its identity.

Advertising will be directed at the core customer and will stress the projected image. A logo has been developed, which is designed to be transferable to clothing for added sales and advertising. The company colors are white and black, which represent the character of the company in their classic simplicity and boldness.

Most importantly, Van Schaack fills voids in the market left by competitors like Men Tour. Voids are to be filled by:

• Selling moderate to better quality menswear with a sexy, masculine appeal
• Pioneering a new focused approach of selling cosmetic products to an emerging market of men wanting to be catered to in this regard
• A more hip and sophisticated shopping environment.

STORE DESIGN

Retail trade publications report that today's retail customers want bright, open shopping environments. Van Schaack will meet this expectation by being a very bright, white store. The best way to present strong merchandise and color statements is by using white backgrounds. All walls and merchandise tables in the store will be white. Merchandise walls will be tall, with chrome fixturing to show expansive statements; merchandise tables will be three levels. Walls will be architecturally broken to show separate merchandise stories. Floor fixturing will be simple chrome and black 4-way and T-stand outfitters to better show off merchandise groups.

Special muscular mannequins will show clothes to their advantage on tables and in windows. Ceilings will be white with 2' × 2' fluorescent lamps for brightness and tracks of spotlamps to show off feature walls and tables.

Macho, romantic and sexy images of men will be framed and hung in clusters on walls for ambiance and whimsy. The overall effect will be an upbeat, contemporary environment with a touch of fun.

STORE LOCATIONS

Several factors go into choosing the best location for a retail store. Among them are demographics, real estate prices, and the actual location within a setting. Location determines whether people passing by will see your store and come in. Another important factor in Southern California is available parking for customers.

The proposed location for the initial store is in the middle of the University area of Santa Barbara. This busy center, anchored by Big supermarket and Lottie's Records and Video, consistently has a busy parking lot and very high foot traffic. The center also enjoys a rush of customer traffic from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm because of the supermarket and video store, a time when most malls are slow. Rent per square foot is about half what the nearest regional mall charges.

The store has a very high visibility location within the center, with 40 feet of frontage including the entrance, with two 15 foot windows facing the central parking lot. From either side, customers would be able to see into the entire store through four large windows.

Future store locations would follow a regional strategy. Possible locations in the next five years include San Diego, Oceanside, Long Beach, and Irvine.

GENERAL AND ADMINISTRATIVE

Van Schaack will be in charge of General and Administrative duties, and will work in partnership with Jay Sanders on Merchandise Assortment, Store Design, and Marketing.

Jay Sanders will be in charge of Merchandising, Store Planning, Marketing and Sales.

Steve Kotlik will be in charge of Finance and Operations.

Jeremy Nelson will work as a consultant to Jay on Merchandising and Sales Planning.

TEAM VAN SCHAACK

Van Schaack, Jay Sanders, Steve Kotlik, and Jeremy Nelson all caught the retail bug at an early age through working part time in stores while attending college.

Van and Jay began in sales, Van at Can's Department Store in Newport and Jay at Morrow's in Tustin; both have used Reed's as their executive training ground. This has given them valuable experience working within an aggressive corporate structure, and has instilled in them a deep appreciation for teamwork, as the means by which goals are attained.

Along with working on numerous store openings together, Van and Jay worked together successfully for two years during the $10 million renovation of the Hawthorne store. This collaboration helped form the basis of their partnership in the venture of Van Schaack.

Their paths converged with Jeremy Nelson, who has been a Vice President and General Manager at Lutz. Jeremy brings 40 years of experience in retail to the team.

The strengths of this complementary partnership are Van's strategic planning, marketing and design acumen merged with Jay's ability to think like a customer, his extensive knowledge of general merchandising and his instinct to sense trends and grow a business. Aiding them is Steve, with his knowledge and experience in running and growing a small business.

Guiding this team is Jeremy Nelson, with his invaluable experience and counsel. All four are team players dedicated to making Van Schaack the store where active men want to shop.

INVESTORS' QUESTIONS

Q: Why are there two financial plans?

A: Plan 1 is a very conservative plan whose purpose is to demonstrate that Van Schaack can manage its business expenses on a modest sales plan. Plan 2 is more aggressive.

Q: How did you arrive at the sales figures?

A: First we began with a merchandise matrix. This is a detailed account of every item that would be carried in the store, right down to the number of each size and color along with their retail prices. For example, 24 blue tank tops @ $ 15.00 each; 4 small, 4 medium, 8 large, and 8 extra large.

The numbers of units and the retail prices are then totalled. This forms the basis of the item called "Open to Buy" in Schedule 2(b).

In a conservative retail plan, the store would replenish, or "turn," its inventory no less than twice annually. So if the store had an "Open to Buy" plan of $ 1,000.00 and its sales plan is based on two turns of inventory, it would have a sales plan of $2,000.00 annually.

Q: How much do I need to invest to become a part of Van Schaack?

A: The Van Schaack partners would like to sell shares in the Corporation in blocks of one thousand at a price of $ 1.00 per share.

Q: What kind of return can I expect on my investment?

A: Van Schaack is a money-making venture from which everyone involved expects to profit. The objective is to take the Corporation public no sooner than five years from now. The potential to multiply your original investment is enormous for those investors who come in at the start.

This type of investment is sometimes termed a "flyer," meaning that it is akin to a roll of the dice. However, in Van Schaack's case, we believe the dice are loaded in its favor.

Q: Are there any other benefits?

A: As an initial investor, you will receive a20% discount on all merchandise, including cosmetics and sales items.

Q: What about a Van Schaack catalog?

A: We are definitely interested in this idea. Once the retail store is successfully launched, we expect to have the resources to pursue this and other avenues of expansion. Sales through direct mail and computer network are both possibilities to pursue.

Q: What are some of Van Schaack's other long range plans?

A: We expect to continue growing our business by opening additional stores through a regional strategy, which involves opening approximately three stores in a given metropolitan market. In addition, we foresee building much larger stores than those initially planned. The projected larger stores will retain the character and methods of operation of the initial stores, which differ from traditional department stores in critical ways.

FINANCIAL DATA

Plan 1

Financial Structure of Van Schaack

• Of the $40,000 equity, 10% ($4,000) will be provided by Van Schaack, 10% ($4,000) by Jay Sanders, 5% ($2,000) by Steve Koblick, and 5% ($2,000) by Jeremy Nelson.
• The remaining 70% of the equity will come from the sale of stock
• $13,000 will be credited to Van Schaack Corp. for tenant improvements at the proposed University District store location.
• $80,000 is to be in the form of an SBA bank loan.

Ownership

Five Year Plan Number 1 *

Plan 1 Schedule 1(a) - Start-Up Costs & Cash Requirements Prior to Opening

Plan 1 - Schedule 2(b) Basis For Initial Revenue Forecast

Plan 1 - Schedule 2(a) Sales Forecast Per Store

Plan 1 Schedule 3 - Cost of Goods & Operating Expenses

Plan 1 - Schedule 4 Payroll & Related Expenses

Plan 1 - Schedule 5 Occupancy Expense

Plan 1 - Schedule 6 First Year Sales By month

Plan 1 - Schedule 7(a) Quarterly Income Statement

Plan 1 Schedule 7(b) Cashflow Year One

Plan 2

Five Year Plan Number 2*

Plan 2 - Schedule 1(a) Sales Forecast Per Store

Schedule 3 Cost of Goods and Operating Expenses

Schedule 4 Payroll & Related Expenses

Schedule 5 Occupancy Expense

Schedule 6 First Year Sales By Month

Plan 2 Schedule 7(a) Quarterly Income Statement Year One