May 2006 Edition
view

March 2006 Edition
view

February 2006 Edition
view

December 2005 Edition
view

June 2005 Edition
view

May 2005 Edition
view

March 2005 Edition
view

February 2005 Edition
view

January 2005 Edition
view

You may not be familiar with Nakajima or Sanrio, but your kids will surely know "Hello, Kitty" - one of the world's most famous branded characters. Nakajima manufactures and distributes the line of "Hello Kitty" merchandise through its 119 Sanrio retail outlets in the US. Nakajima also manufacturers and distributes licensed plush, collectible and seasonal toys, lifestyle goods, and branded character merchandise for Disney and Warner Bros. for distribution through more than 3,000 other retailers.

US operations is Eric Weber, a California native, sometime college basketball player, and graduate of Claremont McKenna College. After receiving his MBA from the

University of Chicago in 1981, Eric launched his retail career with Frito-Lay, working on major snack brands and eventually moved onto to other major consumer brands such as Nestle, A.T. Cross, and Mattel.

"I started pretty low in the retail food chain -- calling on every channel possible -- from 'moms and pops' to supermarkets, drug chains, department stores and mass merchandisers. I earned my retail stripes early."

Eric is no stranger to Japanese business practices. He spent 10 years in Japan, where he worked for Nestle's Friskies Division in a turnaround situation and later served as president and general manager for Mattel Japan. He then headed A.T. Cross's operations as general manager and executive vice president.

As President and COO for Nakajima's US operations since October 2001, Eric currently supervises its 17 owned-and-operated Sanrio stores, and supervises another 85 Sanrio-licensee stores. (Sanrio operates 17 stores on its own.)   Sanrio stores average 1,000 square feet, and appeal to women, five to 40. "We follow typical retail seasonal patterns, and since 9/11, our business has been robust."

(Left) The latest collection of "Hello Kitty" character merchandise. "Hello Kitty" is one of the world's most popular lines of plush toys and merchandise carried in Sanrio's 119 stores in US.

NakajimaUSA is planning on expanding Sanrio's locations to more than 250 over the next 3-5 years. Looking to the future, Eric is planning on expanding Nakajima's Sanrio store locations to 250-300 over the next three to five years. "It's an ambitious goal, but we have a strong retail brand, we've overcome some of the challenges we had when we re-organized our US efforts. We're poised for growth."

NakajimaUSA, working with The Eddy Company, will focus on proven, successful malls and supercenters. "Traffic is key," he noted. "We're basically fishermen of customers. If there are no fish in the stream, we don't catch anything. No fish in the mall. No fish in our stores."

Perhaps the fish analogy works best for Eric. A natural-born fisherman, he loves fly-fishing - anywhere, anytime he can get a line in the water. But the question is:   Can he leave fishing for customers back at the office?  

"Oh, yeah, that's never a problem."

A Personal Note of "Thanks" . As many of you know, my father, Robert N. Eddy, passed away February 18 in Bakersfield, his beloved "hometown" where he prospered and enjoyed life for 89 years. I want to thank all of you for contacting me and passing on your kind words of sympathy and condolences. Dad was "my best friend" - a prominent and respected architect as well as one of Southern California's most active golfers and volunteers to the very end.

San Francisco Office Closes. Effective this month, we have closed our San Francisco office formerly headed by Steve Eddy. All inquiries about Northern California projects should be directed to our Newport Beach office.

The Eddy Company updates...Ruby's Diner is looking for new stores in Hawaii and West Coast.... Gelato Paradiso is opening a new store in May across from Grauman's Chinese Theater on Hollywood Boulevard... New Balance opened a new concept store in November at South Coast Plaza... Dickie Walker's wholesale and retail sales are up substantially over last year.... Sunset Canyon is off to a fast start at its new location in Tucson's La Encantada specialty center....and Just Cavalli latest store in Sunset Plaza is doing extremely well. The Closet expects to open 3-4 new stores in 2005 after a record in 2004.

The Eddy Company is one of America's leading specialty retail leasing consultancies. For information, contact Bill Eddy at our Newport Beach office. Please visit our web site - theeddycompany.com or e-mail:   bill@theeddycompany.com .