Joe Fresh catches on

Article Excerpt

LOBLAW COMPANIES $36.93 (Toronto symbol L; Shares outstanding: 277.9 million; Market cap: $10.4 billion; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; Dividend yield: 2.3%; www.loblaw.ca) has opened five stand-alone Joe Fresh casual-clothing stores since October 2010. The company plans to open five more Joe Fresh outlets by the end of 2011. It eventually wants to expand the chain to 20 stores. In addition to clothing, these outlets will sell cosmetics, sunglasses and jewellery. Loblaw will also continue to sell Joe Fresh clothing in its supermarkets. That’s helping it compete with general retailers, like Wal-Mart, which have expanded into groceries. Joe Fresh’s creative director is Joe Mimran, co-founder of Club Monaco. Ralph Lauren bought Club Monaco in 1999. Loblaw is a buy. buy…