Date: 1995/01/10
YOUNG Cape Town fashion entrepreneur Marcel Joubert has bought the Hilton Weiner chain of upmarket clothing stores from the ailing Bergen group.
The New Year's Eve deal. said to be worth "in the region of one million rand" was disclosed by Bergers financial director Joe Wolfsohn at a shareholders' meeting yesterday. Bergers, which has debts of R90 million, is fighting liquidation.
Mr Joubert, 30, said he planned to reposition the Hilton Weiner stores "right up to where they used to be", selling clothing aimed at the top income groups.
Hilton Weiner was the premier label in the country, but had been allowed to slip in recent years, he said.
Mr Joubert, who has just returned from a tour of Hilton Weiner outlets, said he planned to operate all 17 stores countrywide and possibly reopen some which had closed.
"We want the shops to shine and we will be bringing back elements of the past to make this happen."
The Hilton Weiner Basic range would also be repositioned - the clothes had become quite "bland", he said.
The Bergers group bought a majority share in Hilton Weiner in 1990, but the stores have been losing the group R2 million a year. Mr Wolfsohn said Bergers had sold the chain "at a big book loss".
Mr Joubert was confident there was a future for classic Hilton Weiner garments. "The market has always been
there."
His two Vertigo stores in Cape Town had been selling this type of clothing successfully in shops positioned for the Band C income groups.
Taking on the national chain was a big step, but it fitted perfectly with his and his partner Moira O'Reilly's
expansion plans.
"We are so ripe for expansion we are almost falling off the tree," Mr Joubert said.
He founded Vertigo in 1985 when he was a student, taking' over a store in Rondebosch in 1989. In 1991 Vertigo took over Gardens Centre premises from bankrupt upmarket boutique chain Frank B Ernest.
Mr Wolfsohn said the Hilton Weiner stores had not traded successfully for some time. The shops did not fit into the Bergers income group target market and there was little synergy between the chain and the group as a whole.
"We though it was better to dispose of it rather than devote management effort and attention to it."
The Bergers group has raised the R20 million it needs to hold in trust to finance an offer to creditors and shareholders.
The offer, due to go before the Supreme Court on Friday. will pay creditors 30c in the rand with the balance made up by shares.
JOHN VILJOEN
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