Express Inc to Enter South Africa In Agreement With Edcon Group

Express, Inc.

, a men's and women's specialty retail apparel chain operating over 600 stores, today announced that one of its subsidiaries has entered into a franchise agreement with Edcon Group, a retail franchise operator in South Africa, to bring the Express brand to South Africa. The Express brand is expected to launch as a store-in-store concept at select Edgars department stores by the end of 2014 with standalone Express store locations to open in 2015. Michael Weiss, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Express stated that, "We are thrilled that the Express brand is going to be in South Africa, representing an exciting next step in our international expansion strategy. It's a terrific market in terms of having a customer base our brand should resonate with. We are grateful to be working with Edcon to make it happen." Edcon Chief Executive Officer, Jurgen Schreiber says: "We are excited to be able to introduce Express and its on-trend fashions to the South African customer. Having such a fashion forward, established brand will enhance our ever-growing international brand offering in South Africa." International Strategy Express has identified international expansion as one of the company's four pillars of growth and a significant long-term revenue opportunity for the company given the fashion content of the brand and the universal appeal to the 20-30 year old demographic. Express serves a diverse customer base in the company's U.S. stores in both tourist and border geographies. Currently there are 11 Express franchise stores in the Middle East and 15 franchise stores in Latin America.