In 1963, Wexner take $5000 loan from a family member, he opened his own clothing store in Columbus, Ohio, called, simply ‘The Limited’. His ambitious were modest.
Wexner saw new business opportunities by innovating specialty stores in shopping malls to compete with the former dominance of department stores in the United States in clothing retailing.
In its first year, The Limited achieved $160,000 in sales – about 60 percent more than he had expected. A year later, he opened his second store and by 1970 he had eleven stores.
After the company went public in 1969, he used some of the profit from the stock sale to further expand, and had built the chain up to 100 stores by 1976.
Two years later, Wexner opened a distribution center in Columbus the size of 20 football fields, the center shipped new products to stores consistently every few weeks, instead of at the start of every season, as had been custom at the time.
Wexner saw an opportunity in 1982 with the struggling lingerie company Victoria’s Secret. Wexner stepped in, bought it for a million dollars and embarked upon a major overhaul.
In May 2002, the company changed its name from the Limited Inc to Limited Brands Inc. in a move designed to focus attention on the company’s core of more profitable brands.
L-Brands
