[Clipping: Swain set to swing Leonard's into fashion] Part: 1 of 2
This clipping is part of the collection entitled: RadioShack and Tandy Corporation Records and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the UNT Libraries Special Collections.
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47
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By RICHARD C. SIZEMORE
FORT WORTH, Tex. (FNS) - Remodeled
under new top management and with up-
graded merchandise, Leonard's department
store here will launch a new, swinging image
campaign this week.
Harlan Swain, new president of Leonard's,
traditionally a price store with little empha-
sis on fashion, said, "We want to keep our
base but expand operations into lines we
haven't taken advantage of in the past." This
especially means men's and women's fashion
ready-to-wear, Swain said.
Leonard's is a subsidiary of Tandy Corp.,
and Swain, a group vice-president of Tandy,
has had the department store chain as his re-
sponsibility for about two years. He became
President Aug. 14 following the sudden resig-
nation of Clifton O. Overcash, who held the
title of president and chief executive officer.
Ralph F. Cook, who was vice-president,
treasurer and controller, was moved up to ex-
ecutive vice-president and is now the chief op-
erating officer of Leonard's, although Swain
is now the chief policy officer.
Why the abrupt departure of Overcash
who also had been working on the store's new
image for more than a year? Overcash said
he resigned for "personal reasons" and-4;.
16
Swain set to swing Leonard's into fashion :
would not elaborate.
Swain insisted Overcash wasn't fired.
Whether his departure lies in the fact that
Leonard's sales were down for the fiscal year
ended June 30, or that Swain was taking a
more direct hand in Leonard's operations, is
open to speculation.
Since July 1, Swain said sales are looking
better, about 10 percent over the same period
last year. "We are very optimistic about the
trend," Swain said.
Tandy does not break out Leonard's oper-
ations separately. But in an earnings report
just released Tanay saia: Eariiimgs prog-
ress was recorded by all marketing groups
except general retailing which continued to
bear the brunt of aggressive expansion activi-
ties."
"One thing we worked on very hard last
year," Cook said, "was expense control."
This should begin to show results, he added.
Since taking the helm, Swain said, "Mr.
Cook and I have been engaged mostly in re-
alignment of people's duties. This job has not
been finished. We are not there yet."
Swain explained that the approach of the
Tandy organization has been that of a special-
ty retailer. This calls for a narrow range of
specialization rather than giving one person a.
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7
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.fnumber of departments. The objective is to
get deeper penetration.
Leonard's operates six stores in the Dal-
las-Fort Worth area, including a piece goods
store in Tandy Town west of Fort Worth.
Mitchell's junior department stores, Leon-
ard's and the Leonard's auto supply store
make up Tandy's "general retailing group"
which had sales of $62,500,000 last year com-
pared with $60,900,000 the previous year. This
group had a loss of $4,800,000 compared with
$2,200,000 the previous year.
Swain says there are no concrete ex-
pansion plans at the. moment. "Bat we have
something on the back burner. Any expansion
will probably be in the Dallas-Fort Worth
area."
During the week of Sept. 11-16 following a
Sept. 10 Sunday ad, a lady's accessories week
promotional campaign will be featured.
Cook says all departments at Leonard's
are well balanced as far as growth is con-
cerned and would pick none out as pulling
dramatically ahead.
"But the opportunity is greater in fashion
- in men's and women's. Historically, Leon-
ard's has been a hard goods store which
didn't have fashion acceptance," Swain said.zvo
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Women's Wear Daily. [Clipping: Swain set to swing Leonard's into fashion], clipping, September 6, 1972; Fort Worth, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc1940331/m1/1/?q=%22~1%22~1: accessed July 18, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu.; crediting UNT Libraries Special Collections.