Francesca’s to open pop-ups, website for new tween brand

Francesca’s Holdings Corp. has big plans for its tween-oriented Franki brand.

The apparel and accessories retailer is marking the one-year anniversary of the launch of its tween collection Franki by making it a standalone brand. Francesca’s is launching a website and opening pop-ups dedicated to Franki.

On Friday, Nov. 5, Franki open its first-ever brick-and-mortar store, a pop-up at the Memorial City Mall in Houston, where the company is headquartered. An additional Franki pop-up will open on Monday, Nov. 15,  at Tyson Corner Center outside of Washington, D.C.

Each location will feature a grand opening party with holiday Tik Tok backgrounds, local DJs, monogram stations, and treats for customers while they shop. Also on Monday, Nov. 15, the new Franki website will launch with holiday fashion and gift guide suggestions, as well as dedicated social channels.

Francesca’s is also busy with other omnichannel promotional activities. During  summer 2021, the retailer launched franFINDS as a new program giving up-and-coming makers and creators the opportunity to grow their business with resources from Francesca’s, including inclusion in the Francesca’s in-store and online holiday product line-up. Four winners were chosen from across the country, and their products will be featured in the Francesca’s holiday gift guide starting, Tuesday, Nov. 2.

On Wednesday, Nov. 10 in Huntington Beach, Calif., Francesca’s will host an in-person and live streaming fashion show featuring music from Capitol Records artist Emeline, along with Tik Tok creators Madison Lewis, Indiana Massara, Brooklyn Queen, and more as models. This interactive event that highlights Francesca’s limited edition line of dresses and jewelry named Limelight, will be a mix of out-of-home, digital, and social elements.

Francesca’s, which filed for bankruptcy in December 2020, has been staging a comeback. In January, the company announced that TerraMar and Tiger were selected as the winning bidder under an enhanced asset purchase. TerraMar has committed to keeping at least 275 Francesca’s locations open. 

In a recent exclusive interview with Chain Store Age, Andrew Clarke, CEO of Francesca’s, about how the apparel and accessories retailer, is planning for the upcoming holiday season.

“We expect that consumers will be shopping earlier this year because of excitement to be with family and friends, and to get ahead of any supply chain issues there might be,” said Clarke. “Francesca’s and Franki customers are eager to get out of sweats and back into outfits that show off their own personal style. We expect a surge in party dresses and bold looks.

“We use daily reporting to make weekly buying decisions. Our teams leverage social to get early sentiment reads on new ideas,” said Clarke. “We test new products virtually on existing and future customers using predictive analytics, which has improved our product success rate over the past months.”