The Right Start to Open 8 More Retail Stores

The Right Start Inc., a Westlake Village marketer of products for infants and toddlers, said it will open eight new retail stores around the country in the next month, bringing the total to 13.

The first new store will open in the new Natick Mall near Boston. Other stores will be opened at Santa Anita Fashion Park in Arcadia, the Mall of America in Minneapolis, and at malls in Atlanta, San Francisco, San Jose and Boston.

The Right Start sells its products chiefly through catalogues. Only about 5% of sales last year stemmed from revenues at the existing five retail outlets in California and Georgia. But while mail-order sales have been flat for about a year, stores sales have exceeded expectations, and all five have been profitable, Chief Financial Officer Gina Shauer said.

The Right Start is spending about $3 million to open the new stores and plans no changes in its existing mail-order business, Shauer said.