Crains New York - April 1, 2013 - (Page 3)
IN THE
BOROUGHS
QUEENS
The Yext big thing in search?
IBM helps
kids make
the grade
Hot startup aims for
global domination
by letting businesses
enhance own listings
BY MATTHEW FLAMM
Teams up with college
on program to flag
struggling students
BY CARA EISENPRESS
BUILDING HIS
EMPIRE : CEO
Howard Lerman has
put Yext on the map.
See YEXT on Page 20
BY ADRIANNE PASQUARELLI
Winter’s grip on the Northeast is
causing more than grumbles from
fed-up New Yorkers. It’s one more
blow to teen retailers that had hoped
early-spring shoppers would revive
struggling sales.
“No one is going out and buying
shorts and dresses and lightweight
spring product right now, and that’s
a challenge when the floors are all
merchandise for spring,” said
Stephanie Wissink, a retail analyst
at Piper Jaffray.
Aéropostale Inc., Wet Seal and
Delia’s Inc. are dealing with challenges beyond bad weather as they
prep for the summer’s critical backto-school season. Not only are they
facing increased competition from
overseas rivals Uniqlo—the Japan-
‘There has been
this general
exhale across
Wall Street’
ese retailer has opened four New
York area outposts in the past 18
months—and megastore H&M,
but they are also suffering a decline
in attendance at malls, which house
the bulk of their retail stores. Enclosed mall traffic was down 1.1%
last year compared with 2011,
according to retail researcher
ShopperTrak. “There has been this
general exhale across the Street on
holding these stocks,” said Ms.
Wissink. “Some of it was a ‘hold
your breath, maybe we can get
through it,’ but now it feels like
there’s a bit of a purge.”
Aéropostale, once the recession’s
darling with unbeatable prices, has
seen its share price plummet nearly
40% in the past 12 months, to its
current value of $13.60. It’s a long
fall from just three years ago, when
the 26-year-old retailer was riding
high. In 2010, the company opened
a massive 19,000-square-foot flagship in Times Square, with an annual rental price tag of $10 million.
Now, fickle teens are shunning the
chain’s youthful styles. The compa-
See IBM on Page 21
STATS AND THE CITY
BELLY-UP TO EASY BREATHING: Since City Hall banned cigarettes in NYC
bars 10 years ago, it’s only gotten pricier and less convenient to light up.
$15
PRICE FOR A PACK of Marlboro Reds, in midtown
$2,738 half a pack of
COST OF SMOKING
Reds a day in NYC for a year
14.8%
ADULT NEW YORKERS who
smoked in 2012, down from
21.5% in 2002
111
SMOKE-FREE two-bedroom
properties for rent last
week on SmokeFreeHousingNY.com
Sources: NYC mayor’s office, NYC
Health Department, SmokeFree
HousingNY.com and Gourmet 45
8.5%
YOUNG NEW YORKERS who
admitted in 2011 to smoking, down from 17.6% in
2001 but flat since ’07
bloomberg news
As teens abandon malls,
trendy retailers lose their cool
Aéropostale,
Delia’s, Wet Seal
see revenues slip
and stocks drop
When Dinesh Rajkunar enrolled at
Queensborough Community College, he knew exactly what he wanted to study: forensic science. Tests
revealed, however, that the Guyanaborn South Ozone Park resident
would first need to take a daunting
series of remedial reading, writing
and math courses. Within weeks of
starting, problems were mounting
and Mr. Rajkunar was growing discouraged.
But just when it looked like he
could become another one of the
70% of the school’s students who fail
to graduate, something happened.
Mr. Rajkunar’s declining performance triggered an electronic alert to
school officials, who quickly
reached out to help. Freshman adviser Scott Beltzer met with Mr.
Rajkunar a week later, and every
other week all semester. Now a
sophomore, Mr. Rajkunar still periodically drops by his adviser’s office
with updates on his progress.
“He’s showed me what to do to
have the scores to move on to new
courses,”said Mr.Rajkunar,who has
buck ennis
On the playing field of local search,
where the goal is to connect diners
with restaurants and shoppers with
shops, giants like Yelp, Citysearch
and Yahoo Local battle each other
for market share. Meanwhile, a pipsqueak named Yext, whose name is
meant to suggest “the next Yellow
Pages,” is rooting for all of them as
their partner.
Yext manages online listings of
large and small businesses across
nearly 50 Web properties. Yext is
unknown to consumers but is becoming a big name in New York
tech. In March, after the company
moved into its new 40,000-squarefoot headquarters at 1 Madison
Ave., Mayor Michael Bloomberg
was the guest of honor at the housewarming party.
And for a company with such a
modest-sounding job description,
Yext has grand ambitions: to become part of the marketing strategy for millions of businesses around
the world, all of whom need to
manage their location information
across a fragmenting Web. The
company sets itself apart by enabling its customers to monitor, update and synchronize their listings
all at once on Yext’s partner sites
through its software. Businesses
can also add staff bios, videos, calendars, deals, menus and photos to
their listings.
ADDICTED TO NUMBERS? GET A DAILY DOSE AT @STATSANDTHECITY
See TEEN on Page 24
April 1, 2013 | Crain’s New York Business | 3
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Crains New York - April 1, 2013
IN THE BOROUGHS
IN THE MARKETS
THE INSIDER
BUSINESS PEOPLE
OPINION
BOB PREVIDI
GREG DAVID
REAL ESTATE DEALS
HEALTH CARE REPORT
CLASSIFIEDS
SMALL BUSINESS
NEW YORK, NEW YORK
SOURCE LUNCH
OUT AND ABOUT
SNAPS
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