The Limited - #44
๐ข๐ป๐ฒ ๐๐๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฒ. $๐ฑ,๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐ฏ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐ณ๐ฟ๐ผ๐บ ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ฎ๐๐ป๐. ๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฏ๐ถ๐ฟ๐๐ต ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ฎ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐๐ฎ๐ถ๐น ๐ฒ๐บ๐ฝ๐ถ๐ฟ๐ฒ.
If you shopped at a mall in the 80s or 90s, you knew The Limited. Dark wood. Stained glass. Used brick. The store that made sportswear fashionable for the everyday woman.
Leslie Wexner opened the first location on August 10, 1963, in the Kingsdale Shopping Center in Upper Arlington, Ohio. First day sales: $473. By year's end: $160,000.
The name? "The Limited" came from Wexner's decision to limit his stock to sportswear onlyโseparates that sold quickly and generated fast revenue. His father had told him he'd never be a merchant. He proved him wrong.
A Timeline:
- 1963: First store opens in Columbus, Ohio.
- 1969: Goes public with 6 stores. Stock offering: 47,600 shares at $7.25.
- 1976: 100 stores nationwide.
- 1982: Acquires Victoria's Secret for $1 million. Also buys Lane Bryant.
- 1985: Acquires Henri Bendel and Lerner stores.
- 1988: Acquires Abercrombie & Fitch.
- 1990s: The Limited fuels the growth of what becomes L Brandsโa retail empire spanning lingerie, beauty, and apparel.
- 2007: Wexner sells 75% of The Limited to Sun Capital Partners.
- 2010: L Brands sells remaining stake. The Limited is fully separated.
- January 2017: ๐๐ญ๐ญ 250 ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ค๐ญ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ. ๐๐ข๐ฏ๐ฌ๐ณ๐ถ๐ฑ๐ต๐ค๐บ ๐ง๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ.
Lessons Learned:
- The Limited didn't fail under Wexner. It failed after he let it go. Private equity loaded it with debt and stripped its identity.
- Wexner's genius was knowing when to acquire AND when to divest. He spun off Abercrombie, Express, and Lane Bryant when they no longer fit. But The Limited's new owners didn't have that discipline.
- Mall-first strategies without e-commerce infrastructure left the brand exposed when shopping habits shifted.
- Identity matters. The Limited built its reputation on curated sportswear for the professional woman. When that focus blurred, so did customer loyalty.
Today, Sycamore Partners owns the trademark after grabbing it at bankruptcy auction for $26.8 million. The Limited now lives on as an exclusive private label inside Belk stores, a Southern department chain also owned by Sycamore.
