Pacific Sunwear CEO Says Offer Great Apparel Choices And Teens Will Buy

Pacific Sunwear CEO Gary Schoenfeld says the key to success in the hyper-competitive teen retail space is to ‘have something distinctive’ because ‘consumers have a lot of choices and you have to make it compelling for them.’ Schoenfeld says Pacific Sunwear saw sales at stores open more than a year climb 9 percent in December. The December momentum, coupled with lower gas prices which are putting extra cash in consumer’s pockets, also led to the retailer raising its fourth quarter outlook. Schoenfeld said the biggest change he’s seen in terms of teen shopping habits is the time they spend at the mall. ‘What we’re seeing are less frequent visits to the mall, but they’re more purposeful. The consumer knows they can shop online, but our customer enjoys the social part of shopping, but also as they look at apparel, they want to touch and feel and try on an outfit. TheStreet’s Ruben Ramirez reports from Orlando.