RCS Real Estate Advisors (RCS), a national retail real estate advisory firm specializing in restructuring and portfolio optimization strategies, today announced it has partnered with Express, Inc. (“Express” or the “Company”), as the Company seeks to realign and right-size its real estate portfolio and operations in conjunction with its court-supervised restructuring process.
“Partnering with RCS Real Estate Advisors represents an important step forward as we continue to take action to strengthen our financial position and revitalize our brands,” said Jon Thompson, Vice President of Real Estate at Express. “By restructuring and optimizing our real estate portfolio, we expect to align occupancy costs with sales performance to ensure that our stores remain profitable and competitive in today’s evolving retail marketplace.”
Express, a multi-brand fashion retailer that includes EXPRESS, Bonobos and UpWest brands, operates stores ranging in size from just under 5,000 to over 22,000 square feet, with an average size of approximately 8,400 square feet — larger than most retailers’ average store footprint. As part of its previously announced restructuring process, Express will streamline its real estate portfolio, closing approximately 95 EXPRESS retail stores nationwide and all UpWest stores. This strategic footprint realignment, coupled with RCS’s efforts to realign rents with sales performance at the remaining 400 locations, will enable Express to right-size and thrive in today’s challenging retail environment in connection with a going concern transaction.
“We’re honored to partner with Express during this critical phase in their go-forward plan,” said Ivan Friedman, President and CEO of RCS Real Estate Advisors. “At RCS, we bring decades of retail real estate expertise, specifically for retail brands in distress, allowing us to address the Company’s unique challenges. Our objective is to reduce occupancy costs across the entire portfolio to position the business for long-term success.”
To learn more about RCS Real Estate Advisors, visit www.rcsrealestate.com.
About RCS Real Estate Advisors
Founded in 1981, RCS Real Estate Advisors (RCS) is a leading national retail real estate advisory firm that provides innovative, tenant-centric solutions for complex real estate challenges. RCS’s team of industry veterans use their in-depth retail knowledge and experience to fight tenaciously for their clients’ long-term success. RCS maximizes returns and protects its clients from entering into bad agreements, with a deal-structure mindset rooted in a forward-looking, risk-averse approach. The firm specializes in reducing occupancy costs, restructuring leases and expanding physical footprints.
RCS excels at identifying and exploiting investment and expansion opportunities because it sees the world through retailers’ eyes. For more than four decades, retailers have trusted RCS to strike the best, most favorable lease terms, preserve profitable locations, select the best sites for expansion and growth, and monetize real estate. For more information, visit: https://www.rcsrealestate.com/about-us/
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