Boyd's Will Go Coed At New Site

Boyd's, the 50-year-old Philadelphia menswear institution, will expand into women's clothing when it moves to its new building at 1820 Chestnut St., store manager Jeffrey Glass said.

The venerable clothier, the nation's second-largest men's store, may contract with an outside operator to run the women's area as a concession, Glass said.

Last week, Boyd's ran an advertisement in Women's Wear Daily seeking "a women's retailer second to none," to run a 4,000-square-foot concession in its new space on Chestnut Street.

The ad did not name Boyd's, and gave a box number for responses. Glass said no responses had been forwarded to him yet from the ad.

"We'd like to adapt our concept to ladies' clothes," said Glass. "When we looked at the layout (of the new store) we realized we've got an area that would be absolutely fabulous for that sort of thing."

The space would be on the ground floor and mezzanine, according to the ad.

Hooking up with an established womenswear retailer probably would be the easiest way to enter the market, but Glass said the store might decide to run the women's area itself, since "it's likely to be rather difficult to find an appropriate, complementary retailer."

"We have a very certain way of doing things," he said. "We would only go ahead if we felt the retailer understood that we want to give women the same treatment we now provide for men. We are expecting this decision to take a long time."

Analysts said several retailers might be interested, especially small chains from other geographic areas that want to enter the East Coast market.

"Joining with such a store as Boyd's would be a clever way to gain entree," said Kurt Barnard, publisher of Barnard's Retail Marketing Report, an industry newsletter. "There are a number of Midwestern companies that might want to come in."

Glass said the idea for a women's department was fostered by the inquiries

from wives who accompany their husbands on shopping excursions to Boyd's.

"They are always asking why Philadelphia doesn't have a place where women can get comparable clothing and fine service," he said. "There seems to be a real need for that."

Boyd's is expected to move from its store at 1217 Market St. to the 65,000- square-foot Chestnut Street location, the former Peale House, later this year. The move was announced in September, after plans for the proposed Convention Center made it necessary for Boyd's to vacate its current premises. After protracted negotiations, the city paid more than $18 million to buy the Boyd's property and relocate the clothing store from the Market Street site.