merger with ascena retail group founded 1940 defunct 2012 headquarters bensalem pennsylvania u.s. key people jim p. fogarty president and chief executive officer products woman s clothing revenue 811 million usd 2008 number of employees 10 300 2008 parent ascena retail group subsidiaries lane bryant petite sophisticate catherines website www.charmingshoppes.com charming shoppes was a specialty and plus size clothing retail holding company based in bensalem pennsylvania ; a suburb of philadelphia . its subsidiaries are lane bryant cacique and catherines plus . 1 clothes are sold from over 2300 retail stores in the united states as well as numerous catalogs and online sites . 2 in 2012 the company and assets merged with ascena retail group . contents 1 history 2 services and products 3 defunct brands 4 references 5 sources 6 external links history edit charming shoppes was founded in 1940 went public in 1971 3 and was ranked 810th on the 2010 fortune 1000 . 4 on may 2 2012 charming shoppes announced it will merge with ascena retail group parent company of dressbarn with a 900 million transaction through a combination of cash on hand and 325 million of borrowings from credit facilities . 1 5 6 services and products edit a fashion bug store at a strip mall in hillsboro oregon the company s operation are divided into two segments retail stores and direct to consumer . the retail stores segment derives its revenues from sales through retail stores and store related e commerce sales under its lane bryant including lane bryant outlet fashion bug and catherines plus sizes brands . 7 lane bryant a retailer of specialty plus size fashion lane bryant was acquired by charming shoppes in 2001 . with more than 900 stores nationwide lane bryant stores sell clothes for plus size women . in july 2006 charming shoppes launched lane bryant outlet . catherines plus a plus size specialty retailer with more than 500 stores throughout the country the catherines brand targets women 40 65 years old and sells clothing and accessories for career and casual wear . the direct to consumer segment derives its revenues from catalog sales and catalog related e commerce sales under its figi s title 7 a leading food gift retailer . on oct 16 the company announced that it has closed the sale of figi s to mason companies inc. 8 defunct brands edit fashion bug fashion bug was the chain that founded charming shoppes and was for many years their only brand . the chain at one point grew to over 1200 stores nationwide . the stores sold women s fashion apparel and were located in strip shopping centers catering to middle and lower class segments . it offered fashion apparel and accessories in plus and misses . in june 2012 charming shoppes announced that fashion bug stores will be closing . the final stores closed in february 2013 . added dimensions and the answer two chains which were acquired as part of catherine s in january 2000 . these chains operated plus size women s stores in the northeastern and southeastern us and had previously been a part of virginia specialty stores which was acquired by catherines inc. in 1992 . charming operated the 77 store chain until 2002 and then announced it would close 80 % of the locations and convert the remaining 20 % into its catherines brand . modern woman modern woman was a 125 store chain of plus size women s clothing stores operating primarily in strip shopping centers in the us . the chain was acquired by charming in 1999 . the stores were mostly converted to the catherine s brand and the remainders to the fashion bug plus brand . ps ... plus sizes plus savings these stores were created by catherines inc. in 1980 and acquired by charming shoppes when they acquired catherines inc. in january 2000 . the stores were converted to other charming brands . monsoon and accessorize opened as a joint venture between charming shoppes inc. and monsoon plc of the uk the partnership aimed to bring the 2 successful uk brands to traditional enclosed shopping malls in the us . approximately 10 pilot locations were opened in malls in virginia new jersey new york and pennsylvania in 2002 . the partnership ended and the stores were shuttered in 2007 . references edit a b staff may 2 2012 charming shoppes to be sold for 890m philadelphia business journal morning ed . retrieved may 27 2012 charming shoppes catalogs charming shoppes history fortune 500 fortune . fortune . retrieved 28 may 2015 . james palczynski ; gayle m coolick ; james mccusker eds . may 2 2012 ascena retail group inc. reaches agreement to acquire charming shoppes inc. press release thomson reuters retrieved may 27 2012 ascena retail group inc. completes acquisition of charming shoppes inc. business wire . businesswire.com . 15 june 2012 . retrieved 28 may 2015 . a b charming shoppes inc. quotes & news google finance . google.com . retrieved 28 may 2015 . ascena retail group announces closing of figi s sale . benzinga . retrieved 28 may 2015 . sources edit charming shoppe s history and organization cnn money snapshot external links edit charming shoppes v t e philadelphia area corporations including the delaware valley list of companies based in the philadelphia area philadelphia based fortune 500 corporations rank in the 2015 list comcast 43 aramark 207 crown holdings 318 delaware valley based fortune 500 corporations rank in the 2015 list amerisourcebergen 16 dupont 87 lincoln national 223 universal health services 324 campbell soup 342 ugi 349 burlington stores inc. 500 other notable philadelphia based businesses amoroso s beneficial bank chemtura day & zimmermann fmc corporation independence blue cross pennsylvania real estate investment trust pep boys philadelphia media network radian group urban outfitters notable philadelphia based professional partnerships ballard spahr blank rome cozen o connor dechert drinker biddle & reath duane morris morgan lewis & bockius pepper hamilton saul ewing white and williams other notable delaware valley based businesses actua corporation airgas alliedbarton ametek aqua america asplundh bentley systems brandywine realty trust boscov s carpenter technology cephalon chemours christiana care health system crozer keystone health system david s bridal epam systems enersys hamilton lane liberty property trust penn mutual penn national gaming rita s italian ice sei investments slm sungard susquehanna international group vanguard toll brothers triumph group unisys viropharma vishay intertechnology vwr wawa wilmington trust w. l. gore and associates wsfs bank notable delaware valley based us headquarters of foreign businesses aberdeen asset management ace agustawestland astrazeneca delaware investments glaxosmithkline ing group keystone foods sap america siemens medical shire pharmaceuticals subaru teva pharmacueticals td bank notable delaware valley based division headquarters of us corporations acme cerberus capital management centocor johnson & johnson colonial penn conseco delmarva power exelon gsi commerce ebay hercules ashland mab paints sherwin williams mcneil laboratories j & j neoware hewlett packard peco exelon qvc liberty media rohm and haas dow chemical sunoco energy transfer tasty baking flowers foods retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title charming shoppes & oldid 743218120 categories clothing retailers of the united statesamerican companies established in 1940companies based in bucks county pennsylvania1940 establishments in pennsylvaniahidden categories pages using infobox company with unsupported parameters navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages simple english edit links this page was last modified on 8 october 2016 at 15 34 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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