Appleseed's to Buy The Tog Shop Jul 13, 2005 6:40 AM
, By Mark Del Franco
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MULTICHANNEL MERCHANT has learned that Beverly, MA-based cataloger/retailer
Appleseedıs has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the brand name and
customer list of rival cataloger The Tog Shop. Terms of the deal, which is
expected to close Aug. 1, were not released.
"We've been trying to update and renovate the Appleseed's brand," says Claire Spofford, senior vice president of marketing and retail. Company research revealed that Appleseed's has been moving away slightly
from one of the two distinct markets in the marketer's audience of women 50 and older--a market that The Tog Shop serves. So when the heirs of Tog Shop founder Emory Rylander put the business up for
sale earlier this year, Appleseed's jumped at the opportunity to acquire a
chief rival.
According to Spofford, Appleseed's will mail the acquired catalog
under the name Tog Shop by Appleseed's beginning in September. Packages will be
fulfilled by from Appleseed's Beverly distribution center.
The acquisition does not include the $50 million Tog Shop's others assets,
which include five small stores in Georgia used primarily to sell
overstocks, and the A.B. Lambdin catalog and Website. The Tog Shop acquired A.B.
Lambdin, which has estimated sales of $15 million, in fall 1982; its first
catalog mailed in spring 1983.
