Bebe Stores, Inc. (stylized in all lowercase) is a women's

retail Retail is the sale of goods and services to consumers, in contrast to wholesaling, which is the sale to business or institutional customers. A retailer purchases goods in large quantities from manufacturers, directly or through a wholes ...

brand A brand is a name, term, design, symbol or any other feature that distinguishes one seller's goods or service from those of other sellers. Brands are used in business, marketing, and advertising for recognition and, importantly, to create and ...

that was established in 1976. The brand develops and produces a line of women's apparel, accessories, and perfume fragrances, which it markets under the "Bebe" or "Bebe Sport" or "Bebe Outlet" names. On April 21, 2017, Bebe announced it would close its remaining 168 brick-and-mortar locations to sell products online as web sales.

History

The company was founded by Iranian-American businessman

Manny Mashouf Manoucher "Manny" Mashouf (, born 1938) is an Iranian-American businessman and philanthropist known for founding Bebe Stores. Early life and education Born in 1938 in Pahlavi Iran, he came to the United States in his teens and settled first in Wa ...

in 1976, where he opened the first Bebe store in

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during a time when three categories dominated the women's wear market: junior, bridge and misses. The name "Bebe" is derived from the soliloquy from

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

's play ''

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

'' in which the eponymous Prince ponders: "To be or not to be..." Founder Manny Mashouf came up with the name after a conversation at a party he attended in San Francisco during the 1970s, shortly before he established the brand. However, the company's name was "Babe, Inc." until it held its

initial public offering An initial public offering (IPO) or stock launch is a public offering in which shares of a company are sold to institutional investors and usually also to retail (individual) investors. An IPO is typically underwritten by one or more investm ...

in 1998. Mashouf has owned approximately 55% of the company. It was announced in 2015 that Mashouf was to sell his 59% stake in Bebe. In 2014, a Telephone Consumer Protection Act class action lawsuit was filed against Bebe Stores, Inc. The plaintiff sought to certify a nationwide class consisting of all people who provided their cell phone numbers to Bebe at one of its brick-and-mortar stores and subsequently received text messages from Bebe at any point from January 2010 through the present (the Class Period was later certified to begin October 16, 2013, when governing law took effect). In March 2017, Bebe announced that it would close all stores in 2017, and become an online-only retailer. Bebe has partnered with Global Brands Group to keep its e-commerence and its international stores in operations since June 2017. A new lifestyle concept store was opened in New York City in March 2018.

Stores

The company has operated 312 stores, of which 215 are Bebe stores, 32 are 2b Bebe stores, 64 are BebeSport stores (this includes Bebe BebeSport 2-in-1 stores), and one is a Bebe accessories store. These are located in the United States, Puerto Rico, the

U.S. Virgin Islands The United States Virgin Islands, officially the Virgin Islands of the United States, are a group of Caribbean islands and a territory of the United States. The islands are geographically part of the Virgin Islands archipelago and are located ...

and Canada. Bebe also has international divisions in Lebanon, Kuwait, Egypt, Israel, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Turkey, and UAE. In 1976, the first store was launched on Polk Street in

as ''Bebe''. The company launched BebeSport in year 2003 to focus on active lifestyle by means of sportswear, tops, sweaters, outerwear, and accessories. In 2009, BebeSport stores were converted to PH8, with BebeSport product now sold in Bebe and 2b Bebe stores. The company converted BebeSport stores to PH8 stores in November 2009. PH8 offers casual weekend apparel, work-out attire and accessories such as bags, shoes and seasonal items. Bebe's outlet division 2b Bebe provided clearance merchandise, logo merchandise and special cuts produced under the 2b Bebe label exclusively for the outlet stores.United States SEC data
sec.gov In 2012, Bebe launched a bridal wear line which was available in stores throughout the United States. The line debuted with a collection designed by ''

Project Runway ''Project Runway'' is an American reality television series that premiered on Bravo on December 1, 2004. The series focuses on fashion design. It was created by Eli Holzman and was hosted by Heidi Klum from 2004 to 2017. It has a varied airi ...

'' runner up Rami Kashou. Additional bridal salons were under consideration; however, the business venture was eventually ditched due to poor sales. On April 21, 2017, Bebe made an announcement that it would close its remaining 175 brick-and-mortar locations. The company anticipated a charge of approximately $20 million as a result of the store closures. The company said it expected to incur losses in sales with the closures, but did not disclose the estimate. In January 2019, Bebe launched a revamped e-commerce platform and loyalty program developed by outsourced e-commerce company Branded Online.

Marketing

To further brand exposure, the company signs celebrities for ad campaigns. Brenda Song was the face of Bebe's 2007 ad campaign. The company signed actresses

Rebecca Romijn Rebecca Alie O'Connell ( , ; later Romijn-Stamos; born November 6, 1972) is an American actress and former model. She is known for her role as Mystique in the original trilogy (2000–2006) of the ''X-Men'' film series, as Joan from '' The P ...

as the face of Bebe from spring 2007 through spring 2008 and

Eva Longoria Eva Jacqueline Longoria Bastón ( Longoria; born March 15, 1975) is an American actress, producer, director, and businesswoman. After several guest roles on television, she became recognized for her portrayal of Isabella Braña on the CBS day ...

as the face of BebeSport from spring 2007 through spring 2009.

Mischa Barton Mischa Anne Marsden Barton (born 24 January 1986) is a British-American film, television, and stage actress. She began her career on the stage, appearing in Tony Kushner's '' Slavs!'' and took the lead in James Lapine's '' Twelve Dreams'' at ...

was the face of Bebe's 2006 ad campaign. In 2007, Bebe selected advertising agency MD70, with creative direction by Fredrik Peterhoff to produce Bebe Holiday, Bebe Sports, and Bebe Accessories' spring 2009 campaigns.Graphis
, Grapgis Profils, 2009 Photographed by Camilla Åkrans, styled by Julia von Boehm and shot in Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, the Bebe spring campaign featured model Anne Marie van Dijk. The campaign appeared in the February and March issues of ''

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Elle Elle may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * Elle (magazine), ''Elle'' (magazine), a fashion publication ** Elle Style Awards * Elle (India), ''Elle'' (India), the Indian edition * Elle (film), ''Elle'' (film), a 2016 French film * ''Elle: ...

Cosmopolitan Cosmopolitan may refer to: Internationalism * World citizen, one who eschews traditional geopolitical divisions derived from national citizenship * Cosmopolitanism, the idea that all of humanity belongs to a single moral community * Cosmopolitan ...

'', and '' Glamour'', as well as on

billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

s and phone kiosks in New York, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas. A campaign video ran in stores and online on the Bebe YouTube channel. Singer

Bebe Rexha Bleta "Bebe" Rexha ( , ; born August 30, 1989) is an American singer and songwriter. She signed with Warner Records in 2013, and was credited with co-writing releases of other artists—such as Eminem's Grammy Award-winning single " The Monster" ...

was the promotion campaign face in 2019.

Events

Bebe has semi-annual collection preview events where clients are invited to preview the latest collections at Bebe stores. The company partners with national and regional magazines to host events benefiting non-profit organizations.

Design and manufacturing

The company designs and develops the majority of merchandise in-house with outsourced manufacturing.

Executives

On August 9, 2010, Emilia Fabricant became president of Bebe Stores. She reported directly to CEO Manny Mashouf and her core responsibilities included oversight of design, marketing, merchandising, Internet sales, production, and retail planning. In 2012 she left to take a position at Aéropostale. Mashouf decided to take a lesser role as a non-executive chairman and hired Steve Birkhold as CEO. Birkhold has extensive experience in retail as US CEO of Diesel Jeans and CEO of Lacoste. Upon Birkhold's resignation in June 2014, the board of directors appointed Jim Wiggett, currently chief executive officer of Jackson Hole Group, as interim chief executive officer of Bebe. On December 15, 2014, Bebe announced that Wiggett had been named chief executive officer and appointed to the company's board of directors, effective immediately.

References

External links

Bebe official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bebe Stores Retail companies based in California Companies based in San Mateo County, California Retail companies established in 1976 Online clothing retailers of the United States Companies traded over-the-counter in the United States 1976 establishments in California Brisbane, California 1998 initial public offerings