NORTH BRUNSWICK, NJ–Skechers, USA, Inc., is opening its second “factory outlet” store in the area on Route 1 in North Brunswick on Friday June 16.

The new store is located just outside the city of New Brunswick, in the shopping center anchored by a Raymour & Flanagan on Route 1 South and North Oaks Boulevard.

An employee who answered the phone confirmed that the store was “still hiring,” but said: “You’d have to come in for a paper application (and) give it back to us when it’s completed,” rather than apply online.

The person declined to say how many employees Skechers already hired for the location or how many additional it plans to bring on.

There’s also a Skechers in East Brunswick’s Brunswick Square Mall on Route 18, that he confirmed is the same type of store, rather than one of Sketchers’ “concept” stores, which are typically located in special locations like tourist areas.

The California-based designer/developer of lifestyle footwear for men, women and children, and performance footwear for men and women, owns all of its 584 US stores, said Skechers Public Relations Manager Lara Diab.

“No [grand opening] event has currently been planned,” in North Brunswick, said Diab, in response to an inquiry about the store launch.

Skechers is up against a “challenging” retail climate in the US, said chief operating officer and chief financial officer, David Weinberg, on an earnings call, though it feels it has a unique product with wide “value” and appeal.

“Our retail segment continues to be profitable as we grow our company-owned store base to 584 stores,” added Weinberg in a release.

Skechers sells and distributes its shoes around the world in several ways and has 2,055 retail stores across the globe. Weinberg said the company’s US retail stores helped contribute to sales growth.

For its US wholesale business, it shipped 4.5% more pairs of shoes than in the first four months of last year.

However, the average price per pair decreased about the same due to moving predominantly lower-priced shoes, including BOBS from Skechers, Weinberg said on the call. 

For the quarter “net sales increased 9.6% to $1.073 billion and represented both a quarterly sales record and the first time we surpassed $1 billion in a single quarter,” said the release.

“The growth was the result of double-digit increases in both our international distributor and subsidiary/joint venture businesses, as well as in our global company-owned Skechers retail business,” added Weinberg.

“I’m looking forward to delivering our back-to-school product in June and July, and continuing to profitably grow Skechers this year and in the coming years,” said Weinberg on the call.

Skechers ran several promotions supporting its brands this past spring.

Weinberg cited new campaigns with Rob Lowe, Brooke Burke-Charvet, and Meghan Trainor, along with other campaigns supporting men’s and women’s lifestyle lines, according to the call.

The company also promoted its “Kid’s Memory Foam and lighted footwear for kids.”

Skechers is proud of achieving “quarterly sales above $1 billion for the first time in [its] 25-year history,” said Weinberg.

Weinberg noted that Skechers is the consumers “leading resource for walking, work and casual footwear.”

The company is determined to maintain its “position” with regard to floor space and exposure for “key wholesale accounts,” and will oversee shipments to wholesale customers diligently, he added. 

According to Skechers, “concept” stores play a key role in gathering sales data and planning distribution. 

“We believe that product sell-through information and rapid customer feedback derived from our concept stores enables our design, sales, merchandising and production staff to respond to market changes and new product introductions. Such responses serve to augment sales and limit our inventory markdowns and customer returns and allowances,” explains Skechers in its annual report. 

Business Reporter at New Brunswick Today | dschatz@nb.today

Dave is an award-winning business reporter who has authored over 200 articles for New Brunswick Today.

Dave is an award-winning business reporter who has authored over 200 articles for New Brunswick Today.