Philadelphia — Value retailer Five Below plans to open 50 new locations this year, beginning with two new stores that opened last Friday in greater Baltimore.
Philadelphia — Five Below, the extreme-value retailer for teens and tweens, has kicked off its 2011 expansion with the opening of two stores last Friday in greater Baltimore. Next Friday, the retailer will open a new store in Catonsville, Md., and will re-open the newly renovated and expanded Severna Park location, which first opened in 2005.
At 7,500 square feet, the Catonsville and Severna Park stores are examples of the retailer’s new large-store prototype.
Five Below plans to open 50 new locations throughout the year, including one more in Maryland this summer. Five Below currently operates 141 stores across 13 states.
Five Below — where all merchandise is priced between $1 and $5 — was founded in 2002 by David Schlessinger and Tom Vellios. Both formerly led the educational toy chain Zany Brainy. In October 2010, Five Below received an investment from global private equity firm Advent International to help advance the company’s robust growth strategy.