Seattle's Jay Jacobs to Open Indiana Stores Competing with Paul Harris.(Originated from The Indianapolis Star and News)

Apr. 12--Former Paul Harris Stores president Rex Steffey is going in head-to-head competition with his old employer.

Steffey, now president and chief executive of Seattle-based retailer Jay Jacobs, is opening five Jay Jacobs stores in Indiana shopping centers where Paul Harris also has outlets.

Two of the stores opened last month in Mounds Mall in Anderson and the Markland Mall in Kokomo. Another opens today in Muncie Mall, and two will open later this month in Greenwood Park Mall and Speedway Supercenter. The retailer expects to open five to seven more stores in Indiana by the end of the year.

Jay Jacobs' 137 stores sell moderately-priced casual wear and career clothes for young men and women. Paul Harris sells only women's clothes.

Steffey said he doesn't consider his stores as competition for Paul Harris because each retailer caters to a different customer. "We have a different fashion attitude," he said. Jay Jacobs is "a little more cutting edge" than Paul Harris and appeals to a younger customer, he said.

Paul Harris agrees that Jay Jacobs is no competition.

"We knew they were coming to town. Since they sell both men's and women's apparel and, therefore, target a little bit different customer, we don't consider them a direct competitor," said John Boyers, senior vice president of finance and treasurer.

Steffey, a Shelbyville native, began his retail career in 1975 with Paul Harris, where he worked for 11 years. He was working for Montgomery Ward in Chicago in 1991 when Paul Harris asked him to return. Two years later Steffey was named president of Paul Harris, and many assumed he would be the successor to the aging founder, Gerald Paul.

"I was probably among those people," Steffey said in a telephone interview Thursday.

Instead, board member Charlotte Fischer was chosen to succeed Paul. Shortly thereafter, Steffey left to head Jay Jacobs, which was operating under bankruptcy court protection while working out a plan to repay its creditors.

Steffey said he was disappointed not to be chosen for the top spot at Paul Harris and would have been content to remain as No. 2 if the opportunity to lead Jay Jacobs had not come up. After he left Paul Harris, Steffey lured away some of the retailer's employees, including Chief Financial Officer Bill Lawrence.

Jay Jacobs emerged from bankruptcy court protection in November. The Indiana stores mark the retailer's first expansion effort since then.

Most of Jay Jacobs stores are in the Pacific Northwest, but it has 10 stores in Wisconsin and the Chicago area. Those stores were the retailer's strongest performers, convincing Jay Jacobs to open more stores in the Indianapolis area, said Steffey.

"What plays in Milwaukee and Chicago plays in Indianapolis as well," he said. "We know the marketplace."

Over the next three years, Jay Jacobs plans to expand further in the Midwest and Mid-South, Steffey said.

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