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Pier 1 chief will retire

By Clint Engel -- Furniture Today, October 8, 2006

Fort Worth, Texas — Marvin Girouard, chairman and CEO and 32-year veteran of Pier 1 Imports, will retire from the Top 100 store chain Feb. 28.

Pier 1's board has hired New York-based search firm Herbert Mines Associates to help find a replacement.

Girouard, 67, CEO for eight years and chairman for seven, has led the specialty retailer on an aggressive growth strategy that included branching into youth home furnishings through its Pier 1 Kids division. But more recently, the company has suffered through same-store sales declines, net losses and some television and merchandising shifts that Girouard and others admit have not connected with consumers.

"I feel that it is time for me to leave in the course of a normal retirement and allow new leadership to emerge and flourish," Girouard said.

Asked if the plan to step down is tied to a recent announcement that the chain is in talks with Iceland-based retailer Lagerinn about a possible sale, he said, "Not really," although it defines the picture for Lagerinn and any other possible suitors.

Separately, Pier 1 said last week that since May, it has agreed to provide confidential financial data to several potential suitors. It has received "one preliminary indication of interest," but that entity has since told the retailer it would not continue further discussions.

Girouard declined to name the investor the statement referred to, but did say it wasn't Lagerinn, which already owns nearly 10% of Pier 1's stock.

In an interview, he said he has been looking at retirement for a year or so and is grateful the board allowed him to choose the timing. He plans to stay involved on various corporate boards and in charity work and said he'll "take a few months ... and figure out where I want to put my energy."

When he started with the retailer in the mid 1970s, Pier was doing about $40 million in sales at about 80 stores. Today, the company has more than 1,200 stores doing nearly $2 billion.

In a statement, Pier 1 Executive Committee members Jim Hoak and Tom Thomas thanked Girouard for his contributions.

He was instrumental in Pier 1's early move into importing from China, an accomplishment of which he is proud. With Girouard leading merchandising at the time, Pier 1 started working China in 1976 and became one the biggest buyers of Chinese handicrafts and home furnishings.

In the years leading into 2001 and then after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, as consumers' cocooning instinct kicked in, Pier was "golden," he said. In a six-year period it opened about 500 stores.

"That kind of exposed us to the world," Girouard said, adding that Pier 1's success caught the attention of Target and others who moved quickly to match Pier 1 and take a piece of the pie.

"That changed the landscape and demanded that we change," he said, but he added that some of those changes have misfired. Most recently, the retailer's assortment became too contemporary for the tastes of its consumer base, so it's shifting back.

Pier 1 has posted six consecutive quarters of net losses, most recently a fiscal second- quarter loss of $73.1 million that included one-time charges and an accounting change.

Three days after the retirement announcement, Pier 1 reported that it is eliminating its 10-cents-per-share quarterly stock dividend to improve liquidity and bolster its turnaround efforts.

A big country music fan, Girouard said he is reminded of Merle Haggard's song, "Someday when Things Are Good (I'm gonna leave you. I can't seem to go when things are bad)."

"Would I like to go when we're having 20% sales gains? You bet," he said. But he added he will work hard in his final five months on the job to bring the company back to better times.

"My mantra is you can fault me for doing the wrong thing, but you can't fault me for doing nothing," he said.

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Pier 1 CEO Girouard to retire in February

Oct 2, 2006

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