In mid-May, Forus opened its first Merrell store (an American “Outdoor” brand) in Chile. The 700 square meter store, located in the Parque Arauco Shopping Mall, offers clothes, shoes and accessories for both men and women. With the addition of the Merrell Store to its family, Forus S.A. now has 199 Retail stores in Chile. Including: Hush Puppies, Rockford, Azaleia, Nine West, among others.
Forus hopes to open a second Merrell store during the second half of this year, while plans for 2011 also include opening two more stores in Santiago as well as branching out into the regions outside the capital city, specifically in the V Region and in the South of Chile.
“Merrell is the brand leader in the “Outdoor” segment of Retail. The growth of the brand has been extraordinary in recent years, so the implementation of a Merrell Store is a tremendous opportunity to continue our growth as a company,” said Forus.
In addition to Chile, Forus S.A. also owns the license to distribute the brand in Uruguay. However for now there are no official plans to open a Merrell store in Uruguay, in the mean time they will continue to sell the brand in their Rockford stores.
Besides Chile, Forus S.A. also has 66 stores in Peru, Colombia and Uruguay. Through March, the company posts a profit of CLP $4,943 million in 2010.