About Us
Corporate Profile
Comark is one of Canada's leading specialty apparel retailers. Established in 1976, the Company today has over 300 stores operating under three divisions: cleo, Ricki's and Bootlegger. These stores are located largely in enclosed malls in small to mid-size suburban markets. Our long history in these communities has fostered tremendous customer loyalty within each division's target market.
Each of our divisions targets a segment of our clearly defined customer base, primarily comprised of women, age 14 to 55, but also including a younger unisex customer. Comark's differentiation from others in the Canadian specialty apparel business is that we focus exclusively on these defined customer segments and geographic markets.
| Executive Team |
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| Gerry Bachynski |
President & CEO |
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| Bill King |
Vice-President & CFO |
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| Gerry Bachynski |
COO / President of Ricki's |
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| Debra Tollefson |
President of cleo |
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| Chris Phillips |
President of Bootlegger |
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National Infrastructure
Comark Services is the internal division responsible for all corporate functions and provides each division with services in the areas of information systems, administration (financial, legal, and human resources), real estate, and distribution.
The Company benefits from these centralized services by having standard reporting and controls in place, and by enabling the divisions to focus on running their core businesses.
History
Comark began operations in Canada in 1976, under the private ownership of the Brenninkmeyer family. After more than 25 years in Canada, the Brenninkmeyer family sold the business in February 2005 to Apax Partners, Inc. Currently Comark operates stores across Canada under the Bootlegger, cleo, and Ricki's divisions.
All three divisions came under the Comark umbrella by the early 80's, with the first purchase taking place in 1979 of 58 Irene Hill stores, which later changed its name to cleo in 1994. Bootlegger followed in 1980, bringing 47 stores located in Western Canada to the company. Two years later in 1982, 74 Ricki's stores joined the family business. Today, all three divisions are represented across Canada.
Comark currently operates 300+ stores - Bootlegger 96 stores, cleo 89 stores, and Ricki's 120 stores. |
