“Bailey Banks and Biddle makes comeback in Plano”

Bailey Banks and Biddle makes comeback in Plano

Posted: 29 Oct 2010 08:11 PM PDT

12:00 AM CDT on Saturday, October 30, 2010

By MARIA HALKIAS / The Dallas Morning News
mhalkias@dallasnews.com

Bailey Banks & Biddle, one of the oldest U.S. jewelry brands, is being resurrected in Texas.

Paul Leonard, a former president of Bailey Banks & Biddle when it was a division of Irving-based Zale Corp., is behind the rebirth of the jewelry retail name that traces its roots in 1832 Philadelphia.

Bailey Banks & Biddle is back at the Shops of Willow Bend in Plano, one of five stores the new company has reopened. The chain was liquidated after Christmas as part of a larger bankruptcy. The brand and trademarks were sold at auction.

Other stores that have opened in the past few days are at the Domain in Austin, Town & Country Village in Houston, King of Prussia in Pennsylvania and Saint Louis Galleria in Missouri.

The Plano store is in the space it previously occupied on the mall's lower level between Neiman Marcus and Dillard's. All the other stores are in their old digs, too, so that returning customers can find them this holiday season, said Julie Keeney, vice president of stores and a 17-year veteran of the brand.

Each location represents a slightly different type of center, Keeney said. "From there, we can see how we can grow."

Plans are to open five to 10 stores next year and 50 by 2015.

Stores have been retrofitted to match an updated strategy designed for how people shop for jewelry today, Keeney said.

Its new tagline is "online pricing, in-store service." So its website, which will be live by early December, is a key component of the new strategy.

"Young couples research and shop for diamonds online. Then they go to a store to have it mounted on a ring," Keeney said.

Lower overall costs, including better rental rates in today's depressed real estate market, mean the seller can offer better prices, she said.

And to make the experience "less intimidating," about 500 to 600 rings mounted with cubic zirconia stones are accessible "on top of the counter, not under lock and key" for customers to try on and compare, she said.

Bailey Banks & Biddle has an inventory of 25,000 diamonds online and in stores. Stores have both 55-inch monitors and Apple iPads for viewing diamonds.

Keeney plans on being in stores, too. "We're all rolling up our sleeves," she said.

Leonard secured funding from Twin Field, a private equity group, and rounded up a core team of former executives, store managers and sales staff to create a new company headquartered in Carrollton. Total staff is about 60 people, and many are alums.

Leonard left Zale in 2006 when he resigned as president of the Zales namesake division during one of the company's frequent shake-ups. In the 1990s, he served as president of Bailey Banks & Biddle and later as president of Piercing Pagoda. Prior to joining Zale in 1994, he worked for major department stores, including Macy's.

Zale sold Bailey Banks & Biddle, at the time its upscale chain, to Finlay Enterprises in 2007 for about $200 million. Finlay filed for bankruptcy in 2009 and then liquidated. Zale was left holding some expensive leases it had guaranteed when it sold the division.

In 2006, Zale closed about 30 unprofitable stores in the chain, leaving 70 locations, including five in the Dallas area.

Bailey Banks & Biddle was founded in 1832 in Philadelphia and claims to be the oldest U.S. jeweler. It had a rich history of designing government and military medals, including the Purple Heart, Bronze Star and Medal of Honor, as well as the Great Seal of the United States.

Store employees have long-term relationships with customers and have been calling them to say they've returned for holiday shopping. Jewelry stores make most of their annual profit and revenue during the last two months of the year.

"Some people didn't know that we were gone," Keeney said. "It's not like we're a grocery store you visit all the time."

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