By Pat Lawrence
Georgia Shonk-Simmons |
The President of Coldwater Creek is petite, but her stature in the
national retail industry is plus sized. Georgia Shonk-Simmons is Chief
Merchandising Officer for the specialty retailer and the ultimate
personal shopper for thousands of professional women too busy for
the mall.
As a 4 feet, 11 ? inch gymnast, (“Don’t forget the half!”)
Georgia initially planned on teaching Physical Education. “But
Phys. Ed. teachers do more than gymnastics – like soccer and
archery- and that didn’t sound at all interesting.”
Instead, she majored in merchandising, starting with a New York City
specialty department store where she became the assistant buyer in
cosmetics. Her next move was to an upscale department store in Chicago.
She began traveling overseas as their buyer. Then, in the early 80’s,
Georgia joined Spiegel, as they prepared to reposition themselves
as a high-end catalog company. “ I was intrigued at the possibilities,”
she says. The company went from $250 million to over $1 Billion in
sales. In 1993, when Spiegel purchased Newport News, a catalog company
that had filed bankruptcy, Georgia’s turn around team took it
into the black.
While Georgia was making her splash in the Big Apple, the mail order
company Coldwater Creek was founded in 1984 with one phone and a catalog
of 18 items. By 1998, its co-founder Dennis Pence was looking for
a merchandising executive and he asked Georgia to join the firm. “It
was an opportunity to do it all again, but without the bureaucracy,
the corporate layers or the traffic. I took it.”
Now she lives twelve minutes from the office in scenic Sandpoint,
Idaho, in the Rocky Mountain foothills. Last year, net sales for Coldwater
Creek were $473.2 million, an increase over the $435.7 million for
2001. The company has opened 43 full-line stores, publishes three
distinctive (North Country, Spirit, and Elements) catalogs quarterly,
and maintains an e-commerce web site that generates a third of its
business. It employs about 2200 people, with headquarters on a 20-acre
campus in Sandpoint, a customer service and technical center in nearby
resort area Coeur d'Alene, and a distribution and customer service
center in Parkersburg.
Coldwater Creek has achieved success in high style.
Since they sell through the three venues of catalog, website and
retail stores, Georgia describes Coldwater as “an integrated
retailer” But, she says, “Our success is in the very personal
approach to comfort, individuality and service. We design and specify
apparel so that it’s unique to us. Sizes are constant whether
the customer orders from a catalog or buys at a store. We go to Europe
for inspiration, looking for textures, patterns or fabrics that look
great and are appropriate for our buyers. We also draw from nature
or Native American influences, looking for different, exciting colors
and patterns.”
Georgia says, “Fashion, done appropriately, is about attitude,
not age. We want our customers to look great and feel great, so we
choose fabrics and sizing that are comfortable. We’re developing
new fabrics that feel like silk or crepe and don’t wrinkle,
so they’re easy to pack.”
She has a certain woman in mind when she is searching for designs
and directs the company’s sales efforts. “Our customer
profile is a professional woman, 35-60 years of age, who puts in a
long workweek before going home to care for her family. She’s
educated, has more discretionary income than free time, and likes
the ease of catalog shopping and e-commerce. On those occasions when
she has time, she uses our retail stores as a place to get away from
it all – while she shops. We have national and international
business, but more than 60 percent of our customers live in the East
Coast.” The Coldwater Creek customer list has grown to more
than 13 million names with more than 2.5 million active in the last
12 months.
Georgia says their retail stores are as engaging as their catalogs,
“They capture the Coldwater Creek ‘feel’, with a
mix of apparel and home décor and surprises around every corner.
They are about 5,500 square feet and offer the ‘best of the
best’ in Coldwater Creek.” The stores are primarily in
major metropolitan areas. An additional 23 stores are scheduled to
open in 2003. However, three test stores of 3,500 square feet, may
pave the way for retail stores in smaller markets.
Service remains her integral focus for the company. Georgia says
“We’re absolutely dedicated to keeping customers satisfied
– on the phone, with prompt delivery, and in no-hassle handling
of returns.”
She has been honored as New York City’s Woman of the Year and
received a lifetime achievement award for her work in the industry,
but after 31 years in the business Georgia is still excited about
the work. “We all want to look great and feel great. We want
color and novelty, natural forms and unaffected ease, and something
that brings out our personal style. It’s just a lot of fun.”
Georgia’s own style runs to big silk shirts – and high
heels. “I don’t wear suits anymore. I don’t need
to! At Coldwater Creek, it’s business Friday all week long.”
Send an Email About This Article