Where is cato located

Please log in again. The login page will open in a new tab. After logging in you can close it and return to this page. Cato Fashions Headquarters Address and Contact. Cato Fashions Headquarters Executive Team. John P. Derham Cato. John R. George Berry. Cato Fashions Headquarters Photos. Cato Fashions Headquarters Photo. Cato Fashions Corporate Office Photo. Cato Fashions Resources. September 19, at am. August 8, at am. January 10, at pm. Close dialog. At the end of the s, the company began to tinker with its formula, reflecting changing economic conditions.

It began to investigate leases in shopping centers as well as Main Street locations, although the majority of its shops 90 percent in the mids continued to be located downtown.

In response to a competitor, Cato offered a charge program for customers on an experimental basis. The program was a success, and by the s it accounted for over 20 percent of total sales, supplying the company with addresses for direct mail promotions as well. Several administrative changes took place in the maturing company in this era as well. Cato issued its first annual report and for the first time offered certain employees stock options. Wayland Cato Jr. His brother Edgar became a vice-president.

He was also a voracious reader who was particularly struck by The Prince, a treatise on power written during medieval times by Niccolo Machiavelli. For it to make sense today, the reader has only to substitute the modern chief executive officer for the prince, the board of directors for the council to the prince, the executive vice president or general manager for the prime minister, and the corporate officers for the aristocrats.

Acquisition seemed an effective way to rapidly increase the company's growth, and its main competitor in the Southeast, Glamor Shops, Inc. The 54 stores owned by Glamor Shops would more than double Cato's store holdings, and a loss in made its owners eager to sell. However, the soft economy and concerns over Glamor's drawbacks--particularly its expensive lease arrangements and relatively inefficient operations--scuttled the deal in after almost two years of negotiations.

Still, Cato's aggressive approach to business openings enabled the company to nearly double its store total in under two years. The company diversified in opening "self-service" discount apparel and general merchandise stores in The stores sold a broader variety of merchandise aimed at the entire family, which required a correspondingly greater store area, typically 15, square feet. These Waco stores were later sold off or closed in the mids.

In , after five years of improved results, Cato was once again taken public. But, the cyclical business of retail fashion proved at times a cruel leveller of the company's ambitions. In the late s, Cato alienated its customers somewhat in both its selection of merchandise and its pricing. Aware of a problem, Cato installed information systems powered by a gargantuan IBM mainframe to monitor distribution of goods. Cost cutting efforts, though, soon eliminated the mainframe as overkill.

Nevertheless, co-founders Wayland Cato, Jr. The early s proved to be a period of recovery and expansion, thanks partly to the company's decision to bring some new blood into the management. Under the direction of Wayland Cato, Jr. Ivey Co. An outstanding success, she was given the position of company president as well and was eventually made chief operating officer. Jenkins helped change the type of merchandise Cato stocked and the way they bought and sold it.

As one company representative told The Charlotte Observer, Cato was marking up prices approximately five percent lower than the competition. Subsequently, twice as many items percent sold before being placed on sale. The company reduced the risk of being stuck with inferior overseas goods by buying through importers, and restrained itself from stocking too many identical items, which small town shoppers would avoid.

The lower risks of both policies outweighed the higher costs. In addition, Jenkins decided that Cato was stocking fashions that were too traditional for Cato's small-town customers, who preferred items embellished with "zippers and bows and buttons," as she told Business North Carolina in Besides lowering prices and stocking different merchandise, Cato also closed almost poorly performing stores and its New York buying office. These cutbacks eerily mirrored those of , when around of the company's non-store employees were dismissed.

Among the other new appointments at Cato were David Kempert executive vice-president, chief stores officer, Cato division ; Howard "Skip" Severson executive vice-president, and chief real estate and store development officer ; John Cato executive vice-president of the company and president and general manager of the It's Fashion!

Together with Jenkins, the new team was instrumental in Cato's turnaround. In fact, the various changes instituted by Cato's new leadership produced such a strong turnaround in performance that the company was soon expanding once again. After the divestment of poor-performing stores, Cato opened new stores, relocated and expanded 48 stores, and remodeled an additional 48 in and Cato opened 80 Cato division stores in all of them carrying regular and plus-size clothing.

It also expanded its selection, and began offering clothing for girls aged four to 14 in some stores, a unique innovation among women's clothing stores.

To accommodate these contents, the new stores averaged 6, square feet.